A 500-million-year-old fossilized arthropod found in the Burgess Shale, the vast fossil field in the Canadian Rockies, may provide clues to how heads evolved in early mammals. The fossil is a submarine-shaped arthropod, Odaraia alata, that dates to the Middle Cambrian Period. A paper in Current Biology reports that both Odaraia alata, originally found about 100 years ago, and another ancient arthropod have a hard plate, known as the anterior sclerite, and eye-like features at the front of their bodies that were connected by nerves to their brains. The ancient arthropods may have controlled their vision in much the same way that modern insects, crustaceans and spiders do.
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