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Paleontologists Find Traces of Chitin in Cambrian Trilobite Fossil

The detection of chitin in an Olenellus trilobite from the Carrara Formation (514.5 to 506.5 million years ago) of California, the United States, not only demonstrates that this structural polymer might be able to survive in arthropod fossils longer than previously confirmed, but also hints that sedimentary rocks may play an unrecognized role in locking away organic carbon over geological time.

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