Paleontologists Discover 518 Million Year Old Fossil Site Palaeontology has been considered as a scientific study of geologic part of life that involves research work on plants and animals ancient fossils comprising those of microscopic size and found reserved in rocks. However, according to biology, the concept of Paleontology has been concerned with all the aspects of the fossils related to ancient life. It includes structures, taxonomic relationships, evolutionary patterns, interrelationships and geographic distribution according to their environments. The essay comprises a review of information about the field of Paleontology that involves its basic information closely related to the field and a recent scientific discovery to support the research work with peer-reviewed scientific journals. For this purpose, a peer-reviewed journal Article “The Qingjiang biota—A Burgess Shale-type fossil Lagerstätte from the early Cambrian of South China” has been selected in which a recent research work on the discovery of Qingjiang Biota fossil in China has recently been revealed by the palaeontologists (Fu, 2019). The most recent Palaeontology research work has allowed scientists to explode diversities in an animal’s life about 500 million years ago (Fu, 2019). According to the study revealed in the article, palaeontologists have recently discovered an old Cambrian fossil site in China. It was a fossil namely Qingjiang Biota that has been found closely related Burgess Shale-type fossil that has existed in the early Cambrian life of south China (Fu, 2019). According to the research works, the animal's life has been explored in different forms as they were having diversity among them. Recently, Dongjing Fu has discovered that Qingjiang Biota a fossil that contains a variety of specimens from which the maximum of the specimens has already been described in different palaeontology researches (Fu, 2019). However, this scientific study revealed to elucidate the diversification and biological innovations during the early period of the region (Sci News, 2019). According to the scientists, the sedimentary deposit of Burgess Shale fossil has provided the best prove for deciphering the confirmation of Cambrian explosion and biotic patterns after being studied (Fu, 2019). They reported the sedimentary deposit of Qingjiang Biota for about 518 million years ago from south China which has been consisting dominations in soft body taxa such as worms and jellyfish from a distal setting of the shelf. The scientists revealed that Qingjiang Biota has been distinguishing itself from the rest of the fossils by having the contents of preservative pristine carbonaceous of the features comprising labile organic compounds. These features of labile organic compounds were having a very upgraded portion of taxa that have been making it 53% of the total. Moreover, preliminary taxonomic diversity of the fossils suggested that it was having the features to rival Burgess Shal.

1. Paleontologists Discover 518 Million Year Old Fossil Site
Palaeontology has been considered as a scientific study of
geologic part of life that involves research work on plants and
animals ancient fossils comprising those of microscopic size
and found reserved in rocks. However, according to biology, the
concept of Paleontology has been concerned with all the aspects
of the fossils related to ancient life. It includes structures,
taxonomic relationships, evolutionary patterns,
interrelationships and geographic distribution according to their
environments. The essay comprises a review of information
about the field of Paleontology that involves its basic
information closely related to the field and a recent scientific
discovery to support the research work with peer-reviewed
scientific journals. For this purpose, a peer-reviewed journal
Article “The Qingjiang biota—A Burgess Shale-type fossil
Lagerstätte from the early Cambrian of South China” has been
selected in which a recent research work on the discovery of
Qingjiang Biota fossil in China has recently been revealed by
the palaeontologists (Fu, 2019).
The most recent Palaeontology research work has
allowed scientists to explode diversities in an animal’s life
about 500 million years ago (Fu, 2019). According to the study
revealed in the article, palaeontologists have recently
discovered an old Cambrian fossil site in China. It was a fossil
namely Qingjiang Biota that has been found closely related
Burgess Shale-type fossil that has existed in the early Cambrian
life of south China (Fu, 2019). According to the research works,
the animal's life has been explored in different forms as they
were having diversity among them. Recently, Dongjing Fu has
discovered that Qingjiang Biota a fossil that contains a variety
of specimens from which the maximum of the specimens has
already been described in different palaeontology researches

2. (Fu, 2019). However, this scientific study revealed to elucidate
the diversification and biological innovations during the early
period of the region (Sci News, 2019).
According to the scientists, the sedimentary deposit of Burgess
Shale fossil has provided the best prove for deciphering the
confirmation of Cambrian explosion and biotic patterns after
being studied (Fu, 2019). They reported the sedimentary deposit
of Qingjiang Biota for about 518 million years ago from south
China which has been consisting dominations in soft body taxa
such as worms and jellyfish from a distal setting of the shelf.
The scientists revealed that Qingjiang Biota has been
distinguishing itself from the rest of the fossils by having the
contents of preservative pristine carbonaceous of the features
comprising labile organic compounds. These features of labile
organic compounds were having a very upgraded portion of taxa
that have been making it 53% of the total. Moreover,
preliminary taxonomic diversity of the fossils suggested that it
was having the features to rival Burgess Shale and Chengjiang
biotas (Fu, 2019). While defending the other aspects of
Qingjiang Biota, scientists also revealed that it comprises a very
high ratio of cnidarians having polypoid and medusoid forms.
The fossils have resembled with the external features of
abundant larval or juvenile forms and extant kinorhynchs.
According to the study, the distinct composition and
identification of the fossil will open up new horizons for the
evolution of ecosystems found in Cambrian across
environmental gradients (Fu, 2019).
The discovery of Qingjiang Biota described the
ancient rivals of Cambrian sites such as Chengjiang fossil and
Burgess Shale of British Columbia in the province of China
Yunnan (Sci News, 2019). According to Cambrian Explosion,
the early life of animals on earth has been found in more
evolutionary events and diversities that will be able to graft the
early branches of major animal phyla into three categories of
ancient animal life. The revelation about the ancient fossils in
Cambrian explosion can be better described from the fossils

3. recorded at sites where geological norms of this ancient era
have been made preserved from years. The discovery of the
fossil Qingjiang Biota has been considered as one of the most
significant revelations about fossils in the last 100 years. Initial
news regarding the site of Qingjiang Biota fossil revealed that
4,351 of the specimens had been examined after collection,
from which a total of 101 species had been identified among
which 53 were new to science (Sci News, 2019).
The papers that have been published on Qingjiang
Biota fossils in journal news articles explore that,
Paleontologist Dongjing Fu of Xi’an’s from the Northwest
University of China and his colleagues has described the
Cambrian Period fossils collection as being 10 million years
older (Black, 2019). However, the way fossil has been formed
during the period was nearly similar to those fossils that have
been found in North America. These are dark fossils appeared in
high visibility grey stones. Though the fossils of Qingjiang
Biota has now been preserved for further study and discoveries
about the great fossil. The external features of Qingjiang Biota
have been found similar to shrimp-like arthropods, jellyfish,
trilobites and tadpole-like animals. According to
palaeontologists, Qingjiang Biota is a species that has never
been seen before. However, special features of Qingjiang Biota
has made it special as compared to the other discoveries made
in the past (Black, 2019). “What makes the Qingjaing special
compared to other Cambrian sites with soft parts preserved,
such as the Burgess Shale and Chengjiang Biota [in southern
China], is the fact that there is over fifty per cent entirely new
taxa of animals and algae that are previously unknown to
science,” says University of Lausanne paleontologist Allison
Daley (Black, 2019). She further revealed that the fossils of
Qingjiang Biota were of truly exceptional quality that further
preserved the anatomy of species without natural disturbances
due to the fossilization process.
Contrary to other fossil troves of Cambrian, the
fossils of Qingjiang biota has appeared to have a high

4. proportion of comb jellies, cnidarians and jellyfish, these are
also called as ctenophores. These species, especially the comb
jellies, are extremely rare and does not found so easily in the
ancient fossils to be studied (Gramling, 2019). Study of fossils
like Qingjiang biota has opened up the paths to answer long-
standing debates about their shapes and internal features for a
palaeontologist. Rather, sponges and comb jellies have been
considered most primitive fellow species on Qingjiang biota
family tree. But scientists revealed that they expect the species
of Qingjiang biota will be having more advanced features
among them (Gramling, 2019).
Contrary to the high taxonomic diversity of the
feature, Qingjiang biota fossils are being characterized as near
to pristine preservation of soft structured bodied animals
comprising larval and juvenile forms. Just like worm cuticles,
arthropod and jellyfishes the species was having soft-tissue
features as guts, eyes and gills (Sci News, 2019). According to
the news, the 4351 specimens that have been collected already
from different sites will make up the ways to deeply study
ancient animals, their diversification and features according to
their ecosystem in which they were living at that time (Sci
News, 2019). The fossil of Qingjiang Biota has added a strange
wrinkle to the ongoing fossiliferous discussions about the
Cambrian explosion. This was a very anonymous diversification
procedure of life during the Cambrian Period, but
palaeontologists did not lose hope and are still discovering
whether the evolutionary event of that time was real, a sudden
change or if it was an ordinary looking at the same style
because of incomplete sampling of fossils. While the discovery
of Qingjiang Biota doesn’t necessarily resolve the previous
queries, it has added a site of amazing evolutionary radiation
during the lives of Cambrians.
According to an article, the discovery of Qingjiang biota
substantially added up the knowledge of scientists about the
early Cambrian period (Greshko, 2019). That was a time when
the life of animals had been exploded in its expandable form of

5. spectacular fashion about 10 million years ago. Qingjiang biota
fossils had been formed due to complex ecosystems of that time
that had been sprung up all around the world. Qingjiang biota
had might be teeming with the species that formed the basis of
the major animals grouping today according to their diversity. It
is believed that there were many factors that triggered these
unprecedented radiations of the majority of species which
further explored new shallow marine species for the evolution
of DNA (Greshko, 2019) . It was considered as a fact that the
age of Qingjiang biota has been the same as of the age of
Chengjiang Biota. However, there were many previously
unknown species that indicated that Cambrian hosted more
strange organisms beyond the imagination of most of the
Paleontologists. The diversity of life in ancient times would be
a sign of much flurry evolutionary activity that further explored
other species at the sites like Qingjiang biota and the Burgess
Shale. Thus, the research of Dongjing Fu and his colleagues has
been considered a preliminary report that explored many species
like Qingjiang biota that are yet to be named and studied. The
palaeontologists noted that the geologic formation and the
ecosystem in which Qingjiang biota resided in ancient times are
being found in other places of China as well, that could be a
sign of yielding additional fossils as well (Black, 2019)
To conclude, the findings of Qingjiang biota has enriched the
view of early animal views to the science of the world and
palaeontology. The discovery revealed really remarkable views
about ancient simplest animals for the palaeontologist. One of
the most remarkable things about the Qingjiang biota discovery
is about the pristine condition of many of its collected
specimens. However, the fossils of Qingjiang biota has been
found rare but the fossils are not affected by the impacts of the
time period. These fossils clearly elaborate the soft tissues of
animals like gills, tentacles and eyes as well (Sci News, 2019).
The discovery of Qingjiang biota has promised new horizons for
the evolution of Cambrian ecosystems across time and space.
Palaeontologist and scientist are now having pristine fossil

6. records of ancient Cambrian life that will further explore the
diversity of these organisms as well.
References
Fu, D. T. (2019). Science. The Qingjiang biota—A Burgess
Shale–type fossil Lagerstätte from the early Cambrian of South
China, 1338-1342.
Black, R. (2019, March 21). Fossil Treasure Trove of Ancient
Animals Unearthed in China. Retrieved April 19, 2019, from
Smithsonian.com: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-
nature/fossil-treasure-trove-ancient-animals-unearthed-china-
180971769/
Gramling, C. (2019, March 21). Newfound fossils in China
highlight a dizzying diversity of Cambrian life. Retrieved April
19, 2019, from ScienceNews:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/china-fossil-cache-
cambrian-explosion
Greshko, M. (2019, March 21). Spectacular new fossil bonanza
captures explosion of early life. Retrieved April 19, 2019, from
National Geographic:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/03/treasure-

7. trove-of-spectacular-fossils-found-in-china/
Sci News. (2019, March 26). Paleontologists Discover 518
Million-Year-Old Fossil Site in China. Retrieved April 19,
2019, from Sci News: http://www.sci-
news.com/paleontology/qingjiang-biota-07026.html