Invertebrate paleontology is the scientific discipline within paleontology that investigates the fossil record of animals lacking a vertebral column, including groups such as mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms, cnidarians, and brachiopods. It focuses on the morphology, taxonomy, phylogenetic relationships, and evolutionary patterns of these organisms, using skeletal hard parts (e.g., shells, exoskeletons, ossicles) preserved in sedimentary rocks. Invertebrate paleontologists employ stratigraphic distribution, paleoecological reconstruction, and quantitative methods to infer biodiversity trends, biogeographic patterns, and environmental change through geologic time, and to refine biostratigraphic frameworks critical for correlating and dating sedimentary sequences.
Researchers have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in a remote part of Canada's Northwest Territories, offering unprecedented insight into the earliest evolution of complex animal life on Earth. Findings from the site represent ...
Evolution
May 20, 2026
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The top predator prowling the seas during the age of the dinosaurs 100 million years ago may have been the octopus.
Paleontology & Fossils
May 17, 2026
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More than 500 million years ago, during what is known as the Cambrian period, the seas and oceans on Earth were filled with a myriad of marine animals, many of which have now become extinct. This evolutionary burst in new ...
The myriapoda group of arthropods includes the many-legged centipedes and millipedes that most people are familiar with. Although myriapods are all terrestrial creatures, researchers are unclear about when and how they evolved ...
Today's octopuses are intelligent, remarkably flexible animals that lurk in reefs, hide in crevices, or drift through the deep sea. But new research suggests that their earliest relatives may have played a far more predatory ...
Evolution
Apr 23, 2026
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For more than 270 million years, trilobites were among the most successful and diverse creatures on Earth, with over 22,000 known species spanning the Paleozoic Era. Yet, despite their abundance in the fossil record and their ...
Evolution
Apr 21, 2026
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Scientists have uncovered the earliest fossil evidence of annelids (ringed worms) in Cambrian microfossils dating back approximately 535 million years ago. This discovery offers fresh insights into the origin and early evolution ...
Evolution
Apr 20, 2026
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Canadian researchers studying 450-million-year-old fossils near Quebec City have identified a new species of basal-medusozoan: Paleocanna tentaculum, a soft-bodied, tube-shaped polyp with a ring of tentacles. Closely related ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 20, 2026
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A famous 300-million-year-old fossil that was thought to be the world's oldest octopus—even featuring in the Guinness Book of Records—has turned out to be something else altogether. In what amounts to a case of mistaken identity, ...
Evolution
Apr 7, 2026
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Nautilus and Allonautilus cephalopods and their extinct ancestors have been drifting through the mesophotic zone of the ocean for more than 500 million years. Researchers have spent the last 40 years trying to understand ...
Evolution
Apr 5, 2026
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