Animals may have evolved 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence suggests

Knollisphaeridium maximum, Kheseen Formation, latest Ediacaran/early Cambrian. Scale bar: 0.1 mm. (Derek Briggs via SWNS)

By Stephen Beech

Animals may have evolved up to 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence suggests, according to new research.

Animals may have evolved 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence suggests

Ediacaran sea floor, Namibia, Southwest Africa - 543 million years ago. (University of Oxford via SWNS)

Animals may have evolved 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence suggests

Study author Associate Professor Ross Anderson (University of Oxford) in the mountains to the west of Lake Khuvsgul, Mongolia during fieldwork in summer 2017. (Ross Anderson via SWNS)

Animals may have evolved 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence suggests

Estimated timeline for the origin of animals based on molecular clock analyses. The grey bar on the right of the image is the origin of animals based on an Ediacaran upper calibration. The grey bar to the left is the origin based on older deposits in the Tonian period, as suggested by the new study. (Orin Lole Durbin via SWNS)

Animals may have evolved 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence suggests

Asterocapsoides wenganensis, Kheseen Formation, latest Ediacaran/early Cambrian. Scale bar: 0.1 mm. (Derek Briggs via SWNS)

Originally published on talker.news, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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