The first fossil arthropods appear in the Cambrian Period (541.0 million to 485.4 million years ago) and are represented by trilobites, merostomes, and crustaceans.

What did arthropods evolve?

It seems likely that arthropods evolved from the same root as the annelids and that the three main lineages of arthropods - the Chelicerata, the Crustacea and the Insecta - evolved independently from a common ancestor. Little is known of the ancestors of living arthropods.

Where did the first arthropods evolve?

It has been proposed that the Ediacaran animals Parvancorina and Spriggina, from around 555 million years ago, were arthropods. Small arthropods with bivalve-like shells have been found in Early Cambrian fossil beds dating 541 to 539 million years ago in China and Australia.