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Palaeontology

Lost children of the Cambrian

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The initial flowering of animal life on Earth occurred during the Cambrian, some 540–490 million years ago. Fossil embryos from that time can provide clues about the origins of the major animal groups.

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Figure 1: Adult representatives of the three living scalidophorans.
Figure 2: The place of Markuelia in evolution, as inferred from the new work5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Norbyvägen 22

    Graham E. Budd

  2. University of Uppsala, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden

    Graham E. Budd

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  1. Graham E. Budd
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Budd, G. Lost children of the Cambrian. Nature 427, 205–207 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/427205a

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