There is a lot of evidence supporting the theory of evolution, the biggest of which is the presence of fossils. It’s the nature of these discoveries of fossils that have helped reduce the gap and provided answers about the chain of evolution from a single-celled organism to a complicated one.
A well-endowed Silurian Shrimp
This modern-day ostracod, also known as The seed shrimp, is about 425 million years old and has all its soft tissues fossilized in three dimensions.
Image Credit: Anna Syme
Ancient arachnid brain
This is a fossilized brain of horseshoe crab which is believed to be 310 million years old and it belongs to the extinct species Euproops dane.
Image Credit: Russell Bicknell
Family of spider mummies
A family of now-extinct Lagonomegopidae spiders died nearly 99 million years ago when they got trapped in tree resin, which hardened into amber.
Image Credit: Xiangbo Guo, Paul Selden and Dong Ren; Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2021)
Cephalopods
The oldest of its kind discovered, these cephalopods date back to 522 million years ago. They are also termed as the Granddaddy of all cephalopods.
Image Credit: Gregor Austermann/Communications Biology
Dinosaur egg fossil
A dinosaur embryo curled up inside a fossilised egg. The embryo dates back 66-72 million years. It is said to belong to species of toothless, beaked theropod dinosaurs.
Image Credit: WANG DONG MING/CHINA NEWS SERVICE VIA GETTY
Feathered dinosaur tail
The feathered tail belongs to a dinosaur from 99 million years ago and was excavated at an amber market in Myitkyina, Myanmar.
Image Credit: RSM / R.C. McKellar
Homotherium (sabre-tooth cat)
This is a 28,000-year-old mandible of the homotherium, more commonly known as the sabre-tooth cat.
Image Credit: James St. John / Flickr
Oldest known fish: Metaspriggina
This is the oldest and first well-preserved fish fossil, called Metaspriggina. It’s no bigger than a human thumb and dates back to 505 million years ago.
Image Credit: Jean-Bernard Caron