For many years, the only existing fossil evidence of mixopterid evurypterids--an extinct family of large aquatic arthropods known as sea scorptions and related to modern archnids and horseshoe crabs--came from four species living on the paleocontinent of Laurussia. In a discovery that expands our understanding of the geographical distribution of mixopterids, paleontologist Bo Wang and others have identified fossilized remains of a new mixopterid species, Terroopterus xiushanensis, that lived over 400 million years ago on the paleocontinent of Gondwana.

According to the text, why was Wang and his team's discovery of the Terroopterus xiushanensis fossil significant?

Question

Accepted Answer

The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by scientists that mixopterids existed outside the paleocontinent of Laurussia.

Answer

The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by scientists that mixopterids lived more than 400 million years ago.

Answer

The fossil helps establish that mixopterids are more closely related to modern archnids and horseshoe crabs than previously thought.

Answer

The fossil helps establish a more accurate timeline of the evolution of mixopterids on the paleocontinents of Laurussia and Gondwana.