WASHINGTON: A remarkable assemblage of fossils from China is revealing that animal life diversified in Earth’s primordial seas millions of years earlier than previously known, with an array of forms including ancient members of a group that eventually led to vertebrates, including humans. Paleontologists unearthed some 700 fossils of individual small soft-bodied animals that lived roughly 546 to 539 million years ago during the Ediacaran Period, depicting a dramatic transformation in animal lif...