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# Contents

- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 The Cambrian explosion
  - 1.1 A burst of evolution
  - 1.2 The Burgess Shale
  - 1.3 An overview of animal phyla
  - 1.4 The origin of the vertebrates
- 2 The Ordovician seas
- 3 The Silurian Period and the invasion of the land
- 4 Life in the Silurian sea
  - 4.1 Trilobites
    - 4.1.1 More on trilobites
  - 4.2 Crinoids
  - 4.3 Corals
  - 4.4 Other Wenlock Limestone fossils
- 5 The Devonian Period
- 6 Vertebrates move onto land
  - 6.1 A difficult evolutionary transition
  - 6.2 An outline of vertebrate evolution
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements

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