Human origins traced to worm fossil in Canada

[FarCenter]

Paleontologists have traced the origins of humans and other vertebrates to a worm that swam in the oceans half a billion years ago, said a study published Monday.

A new analysis of fossils unearthed in the Canadian Rockies determined that the extinct Pikaia gracilens is the most primitive known member of the chordate family, which today includes fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals.

The research published in the British scientific journal Biological Reviews identified a notochord or rod that would become part of the backbone in vertebrates, and skeletal muscle tissue called myomeres in 114 fossil specimens of the creature.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120305-human-origins-traced-worm-fossil-canada

[Swede]

1. Beauty,eh?

[superpatriotman]

2. Photo:

[provis99]

7. so that's what Great, great, etc. Grandpappy looked like!

[hobbit709]

3. and still more advanced than RWer.

[HopeHoops]

4. The original culminated in a prehistoric creature known as Rushus Limbaughcis.

[piratefish08]

5. c'mon now. we can't even get half the country to jump on the monkey bandwagon,

and now THIS???


the RW ain't gonna buy the fact that their great great great grandpappy's were fish bait.....

[denbot]

6. Pikaia, what an ambitious little fellow.

I first read about him in Stephen Jay Gould's Wonderful Life:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Life:_The_Burgess_Shale_and_the_Nature_of_History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikaia