The latest vertebrates are the earliest |
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| Authors: | RICHARD J ALDRIDGE DEREK E G BRIGGS IVAN J SANSOM M PAUL SMITH |
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| Institution: | Richard J. Aldridge is Reader in Micropalaeo–ntology at the University of Leicester;Derek E. G. Briggs is Professor of Paleobiology at the University of Bristol;Ivan J. Sansom is a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Birmingham;M. Paul Smith is Curator of the Lapworth Museum, University of Birmingham. |
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| Abstract: | The teeth, or elements, ofconodonts are among the most important Palaeozoic microfossils. Despite this, the biological relationships of conodonts have long remained enigmatic. Recent evidence of their soft anatomy, and of the ultrastructure of the elements, has finally revealed that they are vertebrates. These discoveries push vertebrate origins firmly back into the Cambrian and add a large cohort of specialists to the ranks of the vertebrate palaeontologists. |
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