Fossil Creatures: Some Date Back 500 Million Years

More than 80 have been found in a paleontological deposit in Canada fossils of beings with three eyes and
brain really well preserved. They date back to 500 million years ago, but seem to have died yesterday due to their perfect state of preservation. Two scientists from the University of Toronto, Joseph, made the discovery
Moysiuk and Jean Bernard Caron.

The two scholars have described them as fossils belonging to: invertebrates of the order of Radiodonti and the
class of dinocarids. The studies concentrated on 270 specimens of Stanleycaris hirpex Petrified
dating from the Cambrian. Such animals are strange, one of the most bizarre, moreover, related to today’s insects and
spiders. In more than 80 of these fossils, the eyes and brains were perfectly preserved.

Although fossilized brains from the Cambrian period are not new, this discovery is notable for the amazing quality of preservation and the large number of specimens. We can even discern fine details such as the centers of visual processing that serve the large eyes and the traces of nerves that enter the appendages. The details are so clear that it’s like we’re looking at an animal that died yesterday.

Professor Joseph Moysiuk

They discovered that the Stanleycaris brain was made up of two main parts: the
protocerebrum and deutocerebrum. The other, on the other hand, that of modern arthropods also has a third part,
the tritocerebrum.

The presence of a huge third eye in Stanleycaris was unexpected. Emphasize that
these animals looked even more bizarre than we thought, but it also shows us that early arthropods had already developed a variety of complex visual systems, like many of their modern relatives.

Professor Jean Bernard Caron

Such creatures, skilled predators of small animals, were up to 20 cm in size, but most of them did not exceed 8 cm.