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Fossil jawless fish from China foreshadows early jawed vertebrate anatomy

Author

Listed:
  • Zhikun Gai

    (School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
    Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Philip C. J. Donoghue

    (School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol)

  • Min Zhu

    (Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Philippe Janvier

    (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7207 du CNRS, 47 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France)

  • Marco Stampanoni

    (Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut
    Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University and ETH Zurich)

Abstract

Jawless vertebrate saves face Almost all living vertebrates have jaws. The few that don't — the lampreys and hagfish — are so specialized in other ways that understanding how jaws evolved is problematic. Fossils can provide some clues. Synchrotron radiation X-ray tomography of the heads of fossil galeaspids, extinct jawless vertebrates more closely related to living jawed vertebrates than to living jawless vertebrates, reveals an intriguing intermediate form. Modern jawless fishes, and most fossil ones, have a single, median nostril, but galeaspids had paired nasal sacs, as in jawed vertebrates, freeing up the centre of the 'face' as a field in which jaws could develop.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhikun Gai & Philip C. J. Donoghue & Min Zhu & Philippe Janvier & Marco Stampanoni, 2011. "Fossil jawless fish from China foreshadows early jawed vertebrate anatomy," Nature, Nature, vol. 476(7360), pages 324-327, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:476:y:2011:i:7360:d:10.1038_nature10276
    DOI: 10.1038/nature10276
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