We note that according to our mitochondrial data set, the cephalochordates and vertebrates form a highly supported monophyletic group (BPP = 100%, TF = 96.5% and MLBP = 91%), which further diminishes ...

The Middle Cambrian chordate known as Pikaia gracilens was once thought to be humanity’s earliest known ancestor, and the earliest known member of the phylum Chordata. Now, a new study flips this ...

The way in which most multicellular organisms have been classified has been the same for more than a century. Only recently have scientists developed the tools and knowledge to question the way we ...

The planktonic organism <em>Oikopleura dioica</em>, an animal model in the study of evolution and embryonic development in our phylum (chordates), has lost most of ...

The mystery of chordate origins has endured for more than 150 years. Shortly after Darwin's On the Origin of Species, acorn worms were discovered to have chordate-like pharyngeal gill slits 1,2 and to ...