Hairy monster: ancient 'super-armoured' worm discovered in China

Collinsium ciliosum, or the Hairy Collins' Monster, lived around 500 million years ago and is thought to be one of the first animals to develop body armour

An ancient marine worm discovered in China has been identified as the earliest known animal to have used body armour to defend itself against predators.

The creature is known as the Hairy Collins' Monster or Collinsium ciliosum, after paleontololgist Desmond Collins, who first discovered a similar fossil in the 1980s. The Chinese specimen lived around 500 million years ago and developed "super-armour" - an array of 72 spikes along its back and sides - to protect itself from other life forms that existed at the time.