A juvenile Arthropleura reconstructed using fossils discovered in Montceau-les-Mines, France, is shown in this illustration. That's because many of the fossils of the creatures are headless shells ...
The fossil record has such large gaps that it can't be taken at face value ... may have developed the ability to generate their own body heat some millions of years later in the Jurassic period, ...
By using dinosaurs' close reptilian cousins to close gaps in the fossil record, a new model points to an ancient supercontinent as the birthplace of the extinct creatures.