Animal evolution: a soap opera of unremarkable worms

Christopher J Lowe; Ariel M Pani

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.017

Animal evolution: a soap opera of unremarkable worms

Curr Biol. 2011 Feb 22;21(4):R151-3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.017.

Authors

Christopher J Lowe¹, Ariel M Pani

Affiliation

¹ Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA 94950, USA. clowe@stanford.edu

PMID: 21334293
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.017

Abstract

Recent phylogenies have suggested that acoelomorph flatworms might provide insights into the nature of the ancestor of bilaterian animals. However, according to new data acoelomorphs might instead be degenerate deuterostomes closely related to Xenoturbella, muddying the waters of early animal evolution.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Invertebrates / anatomy & histology*
Invertebrates / genetics*