Fossilized remains of an ancient centipede with a mammalian ancestor
David P. Groenewald
Ancient centipedes may have turned to scavenging animal remains out of desperation after plants died catastrophically at the end of the Permian period, around 252 million years ago. It could reveal how these usually herbivorous creatures survived after the planet’s most devastating mass extinction.
David Groenewald at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and colleagues working in sections of the Karoo Basin in South Africa report that they have found fossils of early mammals…