vertebrates

A team of researchers in Australia have imaged fossilized soft organs of early jawed vertebrates for the first time, finding that our ancient fish ancestors’ hearts, livers, and stomachs are strikingly similar to ours.

A fossil analysis suggests that the yunnanozoan, a wormlike fish that flourished around 520 million years ago, sported structures that were the precursors of the head and jaws of modern vertebrates.

The invertebrate predators prey on and lay their eggs near emerging tadpoles, potentially threatening the conservation of endangered frogs, researchers find.

Ancient monitor lizards had an extra set of “eyes” on top of their heads.

Scientists describe the number of vertebrate species experiencing population declines as “biological annihilation.”

These millimeter-size sea creatures lived 540 million years ago.

The form and function of the ears of modern land vertebrates cannot be understood without knowing how they evolved.

Two paleontological findings yield insights into early vertebrate evolution.

Charting the progress of the various large-scale genome-sequencing projects as researchers working separately on their chosen species begin to pool analytical resources

What researchers are learning as they sequence, map, and decode species’ genomes

Scientists show that horizontal transfer of a particular DNA sequence among a diverse range of vertebrates is more widespread than previously believed.

Two whole genome duplications boosted the complexity of the ancestor of all vertebrates, but also introduced potential for disease.