Nanjing is once again at the head of a breakthrough scientific discovery in the world of palaeontology. This time, it’s a fossil which is half a billion years old that has captured the scientific community’s interest and thus the attention of media far and wide.
The news broke yesterday, 27 April, as the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology provided to the media a photo of their latest historical find; that of an ancient fossil group of marine species which dates back approximately 504 million years.
The discovery was made by Chinese and American palaeontologists working together in Linyi City of southern Shandong Province, to the north of our very own Jiangsu.
“Linyi Lagerstatte” is the name given to the group of fossils by researchers. Zhao Fangchen, the project’s lead researcher, from the Institute that is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained the group comprises more than 35 extinct species, mostly arthropods, which were seabed dwellers.
As reported by ECNS today, Zhao said, “The multi-category marine species of the Linyi Lagerstatte can offer not only a vivid portrayal of the thriving organisms at that time, but also an important window into the morphological disparity, community structure, and paleogeographic distribution of marine faunas following the Cambrian explosion”.
Zhao believes the find could bring about greater analytical data on the evolution of animals back in the mists of time.
The arthropod group is in a remarkable state of preservation for a fossil of its age. Clearly visible are limbs, eyes and intestines in the animal group’s imprint, which dates from the explosion that saw the unparalleled emergence of organisms around half a billion years ago.
National Science Review, an academic journal under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has recently published the study by Zhao and his team.
The Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology makes the headlines more often than any other local body of academic research. This publication even had the chance to actually handle a fossil the Institute discovered in 2019 which put back the first appearance of flowering plants by 50 million years.
Also in 2019, the Institute’s research put the fossil record of beetles back by more than 150 million years. And then in 2020 came another breakthrough discovery; that of the world’s oldest animal sperm, found inside a crustacean trapped in a piece of Myanmar amber, in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London.