Page 62 - The Cambrian Evidence that Darwin Failed to Comprehend

The Cambrian Evidence That Darwin Failed to Comprehend

Ediacaran ones, and Ediacaran forms could not be the ancestors of
Cambrian species. With their soft bodies and unique features,
Ediacaran life forms were very different from Cambrian ones, which
had hard exoskeletons and were much more complex. 36
Faced with this significant fact, Gould was forced to make the fol-
lowing confession:
As we survey the history of life since the inception of multicellular
complexity in Ediacaran times, one feature stands out as most puz-
zling—the lack of clear order and progress through time among ma-
rine invertebrate faunas. 37
Simon Conway-Morris’s admission on the subject took this form:

Apart from the few Ediacaran survivors, . . . there seems to be a sharp
demarcation between the strange world of Ediacaran life and the rel-
atively familiar Cambrian fossils. 38
In 1983, a series of conferences was held to resolve the question of
the origin of Cambrian species. On the fourth day of this assembly, or-
ganized jointly by Science News and the International Geological