Pictures: Prehistoric Eyes Found—Surprisingly Advanced

Lens and Legs

Photograph courtesy Diego García-Bellido

One of the newly discovered fossil compound eyes (center) lies next to trilobite fossils from the same era, known as the Cambrian.

Before the new discovery, the only known Cambrian-era compound eyes belonged to trilobites, which had relatively poor vision.

"Trilobite compound eyes had about a hundred lenses. The new compound eyes have 3,000 lenses, so their vision would have been 30 times as good," Lee said.

Where a trilobite might see blurry patches of light and dark regions, the owner of the newfound fossil eyes would have been able to discern individual objects and creatures.

This would have come in handy if the creature was a hunter, explained study team member Diego García-Bellido, a paleontologist at the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid, Spain.

"Modern arthropods that have acute vision tend to be predators," García-Bellido said. "That's what we see in dragonflies, for example. So we can extrapolate that this guy was most likely a predator."

(Also see "Sea Urchin Body Is One Big Eye.")

Published July 11, 2011

Peaks and Valleys

Image courtesy Michael Lee

As seen in this 3-D digital reconstruction, the lenses in the center of the newly discovered fossil eye are slightly larger than those at the periphery—a design that allows modern insect predators to see in dim environments.

"This guy was probably able to hunt at twilight or in deeper waters," García-Bellido said.

The new fossil eyes were found in isolation, and their owner remains a mystery. One likely candidate is a bizarre-looking creature known as Tuzoia, which resembled "a shrimp inside a clam," the University of Adelaide's Lee said.

(Related: "Three-Foot 'Shrimp' Discovered—Dominated Prehistoric Seas.")

The team thinks the fossil eyes are actually just outer layers that were discarded when the creature shed its skin, or molted.

(Related: "Coral Algae Have 'Eyes.'")

Published July 11, 2011

Megapixels

Image courtesy Michael Lee

A detail of a photograph of one of the new fossil eyes reveals some of the 3,000 lenses that allowed its owner to see the world in remarkable clarity.

While this creature would have had relatively sharp vision, it's not known whether it could see in color like some modern insects, such as bees and dragonflies.

"The eyes in modern arthropods have lenses on top and several pigmented cells underneath," which allow them to see in color, the Spanish National Research Council's García-Bellido said.

"What we have of the fossil eye is just the top surface. We don't have any information about the number of cells that were beneath it, the size of those cells, or how those cells were connected to each other."

The team says their finding is evidence that sharp vision evolved very rapidly in the history of life on Earth. (Pictures: Seven Major "Missing Links" Since Darwin.)

"Creatures with better eyes are going to have a better chance of survival than others that don't have them," García-Bellido added.

Published July 11, 2011