For decades, scientists have puzzled over a significant gap in the fossil record of Earth's earliest animals, with genetic ...

Over 500 million years ago, the ancestors of a diverse group of animals known as Ecdysozoans existed. This group includes various species of insects, arachnids, and nematode worms. For a long time, ...

Researchers uncovered compelling evidence that Earth's magnetic field was in a highly unusual state when the macroscopic animals of the Ediacaran Period -- 635 to 541 million years ago -- diversified ...

Today, Earth is home to animals of all shapes and sizes, from nearly microscopic creatures like tardigrades to 80-foot-long (25 meters) blue whales. These organisms have arisen and evolved over ...

One of the earliest known fossil animals, Dickinsonia lived on the sea floor over a half billion years ago. Based on traces of a biochemical marker, coprostanol, UC Davis paleobiologists propose that ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Earth’s magnetic ...

Paleontologists have revealed the fossilized remains of a curious creature that is not only one of Earth's oldest animals, but may even be the first to have ever been mobile. Dubbed Quaestio ...

Exceptionally preserved fossils from the Ediacaran period challenge what scientists thought was possible in sandstone. In the fossil record, creatures without hard shells or skeletons, such as ...

Yet ecdysozoan fossil animals have remained hidden among scores of animal fossils paleontologists have discovered from the Ediacaran Period. Ediacaran animals, which lived 635-538 million years ago, ...

Everyone has a past. That includes the millions of species of insects, arachnids, and nematode worms that make up a major animal group called the Ecdysozoa. Until recently, details about this group's ...