Cambrian Fossils Push Bryozoan Origins Back 500 Million Years
Updated
Updated · geneonline · Jun 3
Cambrian Fossils Push Bryozoan Origins Back 500 Million Years
3 articles · Updated · geneonline · Jun 3
Summary
Cambrian rock-layer fossils show bryozoans were already present about 500 million years ago, confirming the colonial filter-feeders emerged during the dawn of animal life.
Ancient specimens analyzed by paleontologists close a major fossil-record gap that had left bryozoans missing from the Cambrian explosion despite their abundance in modern seas.
That absence had fueled theories that bryozoans appeared millions of years later; the new evidence places them alongside other early animal groups during rapid evolutionary diversification.
The finding sharpens scientists' picture of Cambrian biodiversity and early animal evolution by adding a long-missing lineage to the period's fossil record.