Author(s): Scott Evans, American Museum of Natural History (First Author, Presenting Author) Erik Sperling, Stanford University Kimberly Lau, Pennsylvania State University Justin Strauss, Dartmouth College
We report the discovery of new fossils from the Ediacara Biota, a group that contains the oldest evidence of complex animal life. These fossils existed more than half a billion years ago, before the evolution of hard parts (shells, bones, etc). As such, abundant and diverse communities of the Ediacara Biota are known from just a handful of sites around the world, leaving many questions regarding their timing and distribution difficult to answer. Our new specimens were recovered from the Mackenzie Mountains, a remote mountain range on the western border of Northwest Territories, Canada, and provide novel insight into the evolution and proliferation of animal life on Earth.