Ediacara fossils document an important evolutionary episode just before the Cambrian
explosion and hold critical information about the early evolution of macroscopic and …

Quantitative studies of fossil data have proven critical to a number of major
macroevolutionary and macroecological discoveries, such as the 'Big 5'mass extinctions of …

Owing to the present global biodiversity crisis, the biodiversity–stability relationship and the
effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning have become major topics in ecology …

The Emu Bay Shale (EBS) of South Australia is anomalous among Cambrian Lagerstätten
because it captures anatomical information that is rare in Burgess Shale–type fossils, and …

Burgess Shale-type fossil assemblages provide a unique record of animal life in the
immediate aftermath of the so-called “Cambrian explosion.” While most soft-bodied faunas …

Ecdysozoans (Phyla Arthropoda, Kinorhyncha, Loricifera, Nematoda, Nematomorpha,
Onychophora, Priapulida, Tardigrada) are invertebrates bearing a tough, periodically …

The major evolutionary events that characterize the Precambrian–Cambrian transition are
accompanied by profound ecological changes in the composition of benthic communities …

Parasite–host systems are pervasive in nature but are extremely difficult to convincingly
identify in the fossil record. Here we report quantitative evidence of parasitism in the form of …

The Middle Cambrian Pikaia gracilens (Walcott) has an iconic position as a Cambrian
chordate, but until now no detailed description has been available. Here on the basis of the …

One of the most widespread and diverse animal groups of the Cambrian Explosion is a
clade of stem lineage arthropods known as Radiodonta, which lived exclusively in the early …