Palaeontology is the study of ancient life from its fossil record in rocks and the genomic record of living organisms.
Research on fossils at the South Australian Museum focuses on fossils of organisms spanning more than 600 million years of Earth's history, and subfossils of the Holocene Epoch.
Cambrian fossil research
The Cambrian Period (541–485 million years ago or ‘Ma’) represents a crucial phase in the history of the Earth, as it brought the sudden appearance of many animal groups showing unprecedented anatomies and behaviour.
Molecular clock research
The genetic differences between living animals can be used to infer relationships between groups, as well as estimate timing of evolutionary divergence, using “molecular clock” approaches.
Redlichia rex, the largest trilobite from the Early Cambrian Emu Bay Biota of Kangaroo Island.
Emucaris fava, a newly discovered arthropod preserving its appendages. Early Cambrian, Emu Bay Biota of Kangaroo Island.