The majority of known fossils of Cambrian crustaceans are in the form of minuscule microfossils with “Orsten-type preservation” – formed in oxygen-poor seafloor mud and exceptionally well-preserved in three-dimensional detail. They can only be discovered and studied after dissolving away the rock around them with acid and picking through the residue under a microscope, then they’re scanned with an electron microscope to see their fine details.
And it turns out some of these tiny early crustaceans looked really weird.
Continue reading “Cambrian Explosion #59: Stem-Crustacea – Actual Ancient Aliens & Bivalved Buddies”