518 million year old nursery found in China

A newly discovered fossil deposit near Kunming, China, may hold the keys to understanding how these organisms laid the foundations for life on land and at sea today, according to an international team of researchers.

The fossil deposit contains an exceptionally preserved trove of early vertebrates and other rare, soft-bodied organisms.  More than half of which are either in larval or juvenile stages of development. So far researchers have recovered 2,846 specimens dating at around 518 million years ago in the Cambrian period.  Palaeontologists claim this deposit is the oldest and most diverse found to date.

Researchers have identified 118 species so far, including 17 new species, and the exceptional preservation sometimes includes preserved soft tissues. Species include the ancestors of modern-day insects and crustaceans, worms, trilobites, algae, sponges and early vertebrates related to jawless fish. Palaeontologists have also found eggs and an abundance of rare juvenile fossils with appendages still intact.

Read more about this story here https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/ps-por062421.php