Taphonomic megabiases constrain phylogenetic information in the squamate fossil record

Abstract. The formation of calcified skeletons is crucial for the development, physiology, and ecology of many marine metazoans. The evolutionary origins o

Bicknell et al. explore the hypothesis that predation was a major ecological driver of early animal evolution. A study of the early Cambrian tommotiid Lapworthella fasciculata shows a correlation between increasing shell thickness and predation intensity (evidenced by perforations) over time, representing the oldest known microevolutionary arms race.

Instantaneous burial capturing animals alive may not be prerequisite for exceptional marine animal preservation and fossilization, according to experiments on marine and freshwater shrimps and cryogen...

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