Ottawa-Sana
Canadian researchers have discovered a cache of fossils dating back 506 million years that contains the brain and nervous system of a marine predator estimated to be about half a billion years old, called Stanlicaris.
According to the American scientific website (Yurik Alert), researchers from the Royal Canadian Museum of Ontario found this strange animal within a treasure trove of fossils in a layer of sediment, and despite the length of time, the good preservation condition of these fossils showed that 84 of them still contain the remains Good for the brain and nerves.
The researchers explained that (Stanlicaris) belongs to the order Actinomycetes, one of the extinct evolutionary branches of arthropods, which are far from modern insects and spiders.
The researchers pointed out that this discovery sheds light on how arthropod brains evolved, including vision and the evolution of the structure of the head.
The museum's curator of invertebrate palaeontology and study co-author Jean-Bernard Caron stated that it was not expected that (Stanlicaris) had a large third eye, indicating that the oldest arthropods had already developed a variety of complex optical systems, as many of their modern relatives, noting that (Stanlicaris) had It had a round mouth lined with teeth, and its body was flexible and segmented, with sides to help it swim.
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