Genetic studies show that this group of crustaceans appeared about 450 million years ago. However
until recently we did not knowone example of what these arthropods looked like at that time. We didn't even know where they lived - on land or in water. Our accidental discovery has significantly advanced the study of the history and evolution of both woodlice and land colonization. Ninon Robin, from University College Cork.
Scientists from Ireland, while studying a fossil that was found at the beginning of the 20th century, discovered the imprint of an ancient woodlice.
Scientists assumed that this creature - it was named Oxyuropoda - lived in the Paleozoic seas, but they could not determine its exact species.
Next, researchers using digitalmicroscopy, ultraviolet cameras and other tools for studying fossils, studied the find in more detail. It turned out that the find was not a marine crustacean, but a land one.
This at the same time makes him the most ancienta representative of a kind on Earth and one of the first animals that began to live on land in the Paleozoic era. Paleontologists have estimated its age at 360-370 million years.
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