While the study of taphonomic processes has elucidated numerous biases within the fossil record of life on Earth (for recent examples, see contributions within Allison and Bottjer, 2011), perhaps the most striking example comes in the form of preserved soft tissues and soft-bodied organisms. Deposits with these exceptionally conserved tissues, known as Konservat-Lagerstätten (Seilacher, 1970), represent one of the richest sources of paleontological data available in the fossil record. Yet, these exceptional faunas have classically been excluded in the examination of evolutionary patterns through time due to considerations of their rarity and perceived atypical paleoenvironments that are...

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