For Trilobite Fans: Trilobite Origins In Siberia?

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2004news/fossilbugs.htm

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Trilobites, the primitive shelled creatures
considered by many to be among the first animals to appear in the fossil
record, may have originated in a place known today largely for its barren
lifelessness: Siberia.

The finding is one of the conclusions of a two year study by geologists at
the University of Florida and University of Kansas that is scheduled to
appear next week in the online edition of the London Journal of the
Geological Society.

By comparing separate, seemingly unrelated findings on trilobite evolution
and geological history, UFs Joe Meert and KUs Bruce Lieberman concluded
that precursors to modern continents began splitting off from a giant
supercontinent at the South Pole about 580 million years ago, migrating
north toward the equator for about 80 million years. The scientists
analysis suggests that a prominent theory holding that the continents
moved far more rapidly is wrong. It also suggests that trilobites, the
long-ago forbearers of crabs and lobsters, originated in present-day
Siberia when it was a separate continent from Asia and located much
farther south.

Trilobites probably evolved in Siberia millions of years before they
appear in the fossil record, the analysis suggests. In Liebermans words,
their appearance may have supplied the fuse for the Cambrian radiation,
the big bang of life that occurred about 543 million years ago.

Siberia at the time -- it wasnt as cold and desolate place as it is today,
Meert said. It was in a better place (in the Southern hemisphere) but its
interesting that you can trace roots back.
...