An article published in the journal “Current Biology” reports a study on exceptionally preserved Rotadiscus grandis fossils. A team of researchers led by Dr Imran Rahman of the Natural History Museum in London offered many new insights into these animals dating back to the Lower Cambrian period, about 518 million years ago. Previous studies had left a number of questions about their classification and lifestyle. The new study assigns them to the large Ambulacraria group, which includes the Echinoderms and Hemicordata phyla and is part of the superphylum Deuterostomia together with the phylum of Chordates. If this classification is correct, it indicates that certain characteristics of later animal species emerged independently several times.