Invertebrate fossils

Brittle star Palaeocoma egertoni, Jurassic, England. Source: Museum Victoria.

Dinosaurs attract a great deal of attention because they include some of the largest animals that have ever lived. However, they tell only one chapter in the story of life on Earth. The much more commonly found invertebrate fossils and remains of other life forms begin, and continue, this story.

What are invertebrate fossils? When did these animals live, and what happened to them?

Prehistoric invertebrate animals include:

• Ammonoids
• Bivalves
• Brachiopods
• Bryozoans
• Corals
• Crinoids
• Foraminifera
• Gastropods
• Graptolites
• Sea urchins
• Sea stars
• Trilobites
• Insects

Plant fossils also tell stories of changing environments on Earth. For example, Anglesea is located on the temperate south coast of Victoria. Some plant fossils found there are 50 million years old. They belong to trees very like those living today in rainforests of north Queensland, suggesting that the Anglesea area once had a tropical climate.

For more information on the fossil record, see Life through Time in Dinosaurs & Fossils.