Who would have thought that such solitary creature that died over 550 million years ago would become the hottest recent topic of the scientific world? Well, this ancient fossil holds a few secrets up its non-existent sleeve and gives science a run for its money when it comes to evolution.



A new discovery sheds light on the timeline of life, specifically the Cambrian Explosion, a period associated with life beginning to flourish fully.

The fossil records show that our world experienced a sudden burst of a wide range of life forms in the seas – an event we know as the Cambrian Explosion. The worm that scientists named Yilingia spiciformis is, however, a gamechanger.

This segmented and trilobate bilaterian, which formed sometime between 551 million and 539 million years ago, in the Ediacaran period, says a different story about how life appeared and evolved. It challenges the present theories regarding the Cambrian Explosion as the harbinger of life on Earth.