A fossil specimen of Kylinxia zhangi taken in Yunnan, China.

Gulf Today Report

Chinese scientists have discovered a creature resembling a shrimp that lived around 520 million years ago.

The five-eyed creature may bring about some information on the evolution of Earth’s most common animals.

However, the evolution of common animals have remained unknown and a mystery, as all ancient creatures varied from their modern counterparts.

Kylinxia zhangi, the name of the creature discovered, was found in China in the Yunnan province.

The features of the creature resemble an ancient Chinese discovery called Opabinia, known informally as 'weird wonder.'

Like today's arthropods, Kylinxia had a hard shell, a segmented body and legs with joints.

But the ancient creature also had characteristics in common with even older animals, leading researchers to name it after the "Kylin", a creature in traditional Chinese mythology with attributes from a variety of animals.

And the Kylinxia's two spiky front appendages, researchers say, are reminiscent of another creature thought to be an arthropod ancestor: the Anomalocaris.

While both have been theorised as precursors to modern arthropods, an evolutionary gap in the fossil record made that difficult to prove -- until this week.