“It was about three centimetres long, a little bit like a tadpole, quite weathered. It was also intact. Usually you just find bits of creatures,” he said.
Mr Nelson had found a 460-million-year-old arthropod fossil that had never been seen in Central Australia.
Arthropods still exist today — spiders, shrimp, crabs, and scorpions are all arthropods.
“People find plenty of fossilised arthropods called trilobites around here, but this was the first non-trilobite arthropod found,” Dr Yates said.
“We know it’s a marine arthropod from 460 million years ago, long before there was megafauna and dinosaurs, any animals on land.”
Dr Yates said the find would fill in a very important gap in fossil records.
“We don’t know what type of arthropod it is. We know it definitely isn’t a trilobite, but there are a few contenders,” he said.
“Whatever it is, it’s going to be a first for the Northern Territory and probably a first for Australia.”
The arthropod fossil is less than three centimetres in length and “looks a bit like a tadpole,” said Dr Adam Yates.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-28/citizen-scientist-finds-460-million-year-old-fossil/12397700