
If you really want to know about fossil Cambrian brains, you are the ultimate evolution geek. Hey, be proud!
Scientists discovered these splotchy marks in fossils of the arthropod Alalcomenaeus, an animal which shares its phylum with modern insects, spiders and crustaceans. The animals lived during the Cambrian period, which took place between about 543 million and 490 million years ago, and sported a tough exoskeleton that fossilized well. But the soft tissues of the creature’s brain and nerves often decayed and therefore disappeared from the fossil record.
Nicoletta Lanese, “Fossilized Brains Found in Ancient Bug-Like Creatures” at LiveScience
Paper. (open access)
Had to happen eventually. And when a Cambrian arthropod brain turns up that can be analyzed, if it turns out to be pretty much like a modern arthropod brain, what reasonable conclusion should we draw about the design of life or the alleged lack thereof?