Giant arthropods dominated the seas 470 million years ago

Copyright ÜBertrand Lefebvre - An international team of scientists has made a groundbreaking discovery at a major new fossil site in Morocco: giant arthropods - relatives of modern animals such as shrimps, insects and spiders - would have dominated the seas 470 million years ago. The excavations were carried out in Taichoute, in Morocco, on a site formerly underwater but today desert. They report numerous arthropods, which have the particularity of being 'active swimmers', and of measuring up to 2 meters long. These giant animals dominate the fauna of this new fossiliferous zone: they make up nearly 50% of the biodiversity observed. The scientists behind this discovery claim that the site and its fossils are very different from other sites of the famous Fezouata shale, located 80 km away and previously described and studied (see below). They would thus open new ways to paleontological and ecological research. "Everything about this locality is new - its sedimentology, paleontology, and even fossil preservation - which underscores the importance of the Fezouata biota in completing our understanding of past life on Earth," says the study's lead author, Dr. Farid Saleh, a researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Lausanne, and also attached to Yunnan University.