Cambridge boffins reveal prehistoric prawn monster Scientists in China are celebrating another key discovery after unearthing the fossilised remains of a 520 million year-old arthropod, with what they claim is the earliest example of a nervous system extended beyond the head. The prawn-like sea creature was found preserved sideways on, enabling Javier Ortega-Hernández and his …
Not really. Although the expression is very awkward, this fossil points to the start of the specialisation of the anterior segments of the basic copy/paste worm shape into something other than locomotion.
Very crudely put, it's the start of the development of an actual "head" on the front end of an animal, starting what is now the basic body plan of every single vertebrate, insect and arthropod alive today.
If the 'body' is just a digestive tube with food processing and fat storage, then it doesn't need any kind of nervous system. Even a primitive heart could have evolved to beat at a constant rate. A chemical messaging and feedback-control system does a good job of controlling much of our 'modern' bodies with no awareness or nervous system control.
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