Related News
419m-year-old fish face could be a missing link
Print Edition
An international team of scientists in China has discovered what may be the earliest known creature with a distinct face, a 419 million-year-old fish that could be a missing link in the development of vertebrates.
The fossil found in China’s Xiaoxiang Reservoir, reported by the journal “Nature” yesterday, is the most primitive vertebrate discovered with a modern jaw, including a dentary bone found in humans.
“This finally solves an age-old problem about the origin of modern fishes,” said John Long, a professor in paleontology at Flinders University in Adelaide.
Scientists were surprised to find the heavily armored fish, Entelognathus primordialis, a previously unknown member of the now extinct placoderm family, had a complex small skull and jaw bones.
That appeared to disprove earlier theories that modern vertebrates with bony skeletons, called osteichthyes, had evolved from a shark-like creature with a frame made of cartilage.
Instead, the new find provides a missing branch on the evolutionary tree, predating that shark-like creature and showing that a bony skeleton was the prototype for both bony and cartilaginous vertebrates.
“We now know that ancient armored placoderms gave rise to the modern fish fauna as we know it,” said Long, who was not part of the team in China.
Long described the discovery as “the most exciting news in paleontology since Archaeopteryx or Lucy”, referring to two fossil discoveries that are crucial to our understanding of the evolution of birds and humans.
“Nature” did not detail when the fossil was found.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
