Paris – One day 370 million years ago, a tiny larva came to a sticky end when it plunged into a shrimp-infested swamp and drowned.Unearthed in modern-day Belgium, the humble bug now looks set to plug a giant gap in the fossil record. Named Strudiella devonica, the eight-millimetre invertebrate – while in far from mint condition […]

An international research team, with Spanish participation, has discovered a new species of mollusc,Polyconites hadriani, in various parts of the Iberian Peninsula. The researchers say this species, which is the oldest in its genus, adapted to the acidification of the oceans that took place while it was in existence. This process could now determine the […]

A mysterious cycle of booms and busts in marine biodiversity over the past 500 million years could be tied to a periodic uplifting of the world’s continents, scientists report in the March issue of The Journal of Geology. The researchers discovered periodic increases in the amount of the isotope strontium-87 found in marine fossils. The timing […]