Beijing May 20 (IANS) Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have recently found a fossilised body piece of an extinct class of marine animal known as Cystoidea or cystoids in southwest China s Guizhou Province.
The fossil that dates back some 400 million years was discovered in Tongzi County while the scientists were studying a geological section in the area according to the county government Xinhua news agency reported.
With an egg-shaped body cystoids are echinoderms marine invertebrates that existed during the Pleozoic Era the Ordovician and Silurian Periods and became extinct during the Devonian Period.
Guizhou boasts a rich store of prehistoric treasures. Fossils of various extinct invertebrate marine species have been discovered in the area. Tens of thousand of vertebrate fossils have also been found there.

--IANS ahm/bg