Fossil Research Shows Woodlice Cousins Roamed Ireland 360 Million Years Ago
Published:16 Jun.2021    Source:University College Cork

The old cousins of the common woodlice were crawling on Irish land as long as 360 million years ago, according to new analysis of a fossil found in Kilkenny. The research, published today (00.01 Wednesday 16 June) in the science journal Biology Letters, used state-of-the-art modern imaging technology to create a new picture of the Oxyuropoda -- a land-based creature larger than the modern woodlice -- using a fossil found in Kiltorcan, Co Kilkenny in 1908.

 
Lead researcher Dr Ninon Robin, a postdoctoral researcher at University College Cork's (UCC) School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences said that their work advances science's understanding of when land-dwelling species of crustaceans roamed the earth, and what they looked like.