The study of early vertebrates provides an essential window into the evolutionary processes that shaped modern biodiversity. Fossil discoveries spanning the Silurian to Devonian periods reveal a ...

Vertebrates are defined as all animals that possess a vertebral column, or backbone. Most living vertebrates also possess jaws, teeth and paired fins or limbs. The vast majority of vertebrate species ...

Scientists once thought that humans must have two million genes to account for all our complexity. But since sequencing the human genome, we've learned humans only have about 19,000 to 25,000 genes - ...

Using the largest and most informative molecular phylogenetic dataset ever analysed, evolutionary biologists were able to construct a new phylogenetic tree of jawed vertebrates. This new tree resolves ...

The fossil of an ancient sea squirt found in a collection at the Utah Museum of Natural History turned out to be the oldest of its kind. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...

The distribution of vegetation is routinely used to classify climate regions worldwide, yet whether these regions are relevant to other organisms is unknown. Researchers have established climate ...

The coelacanth is known as a “living fossil” because its anatomy has changed little in the last 65 million years. Despite being one of the most studied fish in history, it continues to reveal new ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. About 49 million years ago, a long-tailed monitor lizard perceived the world not with two but ...

Max Telford receives funding from the BBSRC, The Leverhulme Trust, the European Union Horizon 2020. He is affiliated with the Linnean Society. Paschalia Kapli receives funding from BBSRC. How humans ...

Go back far enough in our history–maybe about 650 million years–and you come to a time when our ancestors were still invertebrates. That is, they had no skulls, teeth, or other bones. They didn’t even ...