Scientists Discover 90 Strange New Species From 512 Million Years Ago

Huayuan biota decodes Earth’s first Phanerozoic mass extinction

While paleontologists have uncovered dozens of such Cambrian soft-bodied fossil sites—including China's early Cambrian Chengjiang biota in Yunnan and Canada's middle Cambrian Burgess Shale biota, the most famous examples of their kind—no equivalent top-tier soft-bodied fossil deposit had ever been found from the critical post-Sinsk Event time interval. That changed over the past five years, however, with the discovery of the…

Rare fossils reveal 91 new species that survived ancient mass extinction

Almost a hundred new animal species that survived a mass extinction event half a billion years ago have been discovered in a small quarry in China, scientists revealed Wednesday.

Chinese fossils show marine animals thriving half a billion years ago

Scientists have unearthed in southern China fossils of a multitude of marine creatures dating to more than a half billion years ago, showing a deep-water ecosystem thriving in the aftermath of the first mass extinction of the animal world.

China fossil find offers glimpse into emergence of complex life

A huge find of 512-million-year-old fossils in southern China offered new insights into the first boom of complex life. The “Cambrian explosion,” around 530 million years ago, saw a flowering of diversity. Before then, fossils revealed simple, mostly microbial life; in a brief few million years afterward, things like modern animals, and many weirder and since-lost things, emerged. Most of what we know of the period comes from one famous site, Ca…

‘Extraordinary’ trove of ancient species found in China quarry

Almost 100 new animal species that survived a mass extinction event half a billion years ago have been discovered in a small quarry in China, scientists...