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Stylophora
The stylophorans are an extinct, possibly polyphyletic group allied to the Paleozoic Era echinoderms, comprising the prehistoric cornutes and mitrates. It is synonymous with the subphylum Calcichordata. Their unusual appearances have led to a variety of very different reconstructions of their anatomy, how they lived, and their relationships to other organisms. Stylophorans have played a major role in debates over the origin of chordates, as under the calcichordate hypothesis they were interpreted as being stem-group chordates. However, multiple lines of evidence argue against the calcichordate hypothesis, and stylophorans are now widely agreed to belong to the echinoderm total group. Debate remains over whether they are stem-group echinoderms which predate the origin of radial symmetry, or highly modified descendants of radially symmetric echinoderms. Description The general stylophoran body plan consists of a flattened theca and a single jointed appendage which extends from i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcichordate Hypothesis
The calcichordate hypothesis holds that each separate lineage of chordate (Cephalochordates, Urochordates, Craniates) evolved from its own lineage of mitrate, and thus the echinoderms and the chordates are sister groups, with the hemichordates as an out-group. It was formulated by British Museum paleontologist Dick Jefferies, Richard Jefferies. The hypothesis has been disproven as of 2019; exceptional preservation of soft tissues in the single appendage of the stylophorans ''Thoralicystis'' and ''Hanusia'' revealed clear traces consistent with a water vascular system—an ambulacral canal with tube feet—covered by movable plates, where the calcichordate hypothesis would require the anatomy be a tail containing a notochord protected by fixed plates. The enlarged area at the base of the appendage, which in the calcichordate hypothesis would contain muscles to move the tail, contains an extension of the body cavity. The findings also disprove the hypothesis that the group were stalked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcichordate Theory
The calcichordate hypothesis holds that each separate lineage of chordate (Cephalochordates, Urochordates, Craniates) evolved from its own lineage of mitrate, and thus the echinoderms and the chordates are sister groups, with the hemichordates as an out-group. It was formulated by British Museum paleontologist Richard Jefferies. The hypothesis has been disproven as of 2019; exceptional preservation of soft tissues in the single appendage of the stylophorans ''Thoralicystis'' and ''Hanusia'' revealed clear traces consistent with a water vascular system—an ambulacral canal with tube feet—covered by movable plates, where the calcichordate hypothesis would require the anatomy be a tail containing a notochord protected by fixed plates. The enlarged area at the base of the appendage, which in the calcichordate hypothesis would contain muscles to move the tail, contains an extension of the body cavity. The findings also disprove the hypothesis that the group were stalked echinoderms. Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cothurnocystis
''Cothurnocystis'' is a genus of small enigmatic echinoderms that lived during the Ordovician. Individual animals had a flat boot-shaped body and a thin rod-shaped appendage that may be a stem, or analogous to a foot or a tail. Fossils of ''Cothurnocystis'' species have been found in Nevada, Scotland, Czech Republic, France and Morocco. Taxonomy The position of the Stylophora, of which ''Cothurnocystis'' is a prominent representative, has been in a state of flux. Some scientists claim to be able to see a structurally very basic notochord in the tail, and consequently consider the Stylophora to be a group of primitive chordates, calling them the "Calcichordata". Alternatively these animals are considered related to echinoderms, as the shell (or test) is similar in structure and composition to the tests of echinoderms. However, stylophorans are asymmetric organisms that lack either the radial symmetry typical of most echinoderms, or the bilateral symmetry of the chordates. Etymo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stereom
Stereom is a calcium carbonate material that makes up the internal skeletons found in all echinoderms, both living and fossilized forms. It is a sponge-like porous structure which, in a sea urchin may be 50% by volume living cells, and the rest being a matrix of calcite crystals. The size of openings in stereom varies in different species and in different places within the same organism. When an echinoderm becomes a fossil, microscopic examination is used to reveal the structure and such examination is often an important tool to classify the fossil as an echinoderm or related creature. Evolution Stereom was the first form of biomineralization to evolve in deuterostomes, predating the evolution of spicules in tunicates and bone in vertebrates. Stereom likely evolved before other distinctive traits of echinoderms, such as radial symmetry, as it is present in basal echinoderms with bilaterally symmetric or asymmetric body plans. Stereom may have evolved alongside a transition in ocea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Cambrian
Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (other) * Middle Brook (other) * Middle Creek (other) * Middle Island (other) * Middle Lake (other) * Middle Mountain, California * Middle Peninsula, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia * Middle Range, a former name of the Xueshan Range on Taiwan Island * Middle River (other) * Middle Rocks, two rocks at the eastern opening of the Straits of Singapore * Middle Sound, a bay in North Carolina * Middle Township (other) * Middle East Music *Middle (song), "Middle" (song), 2015 *The Middle (Jimmy Eat World song), "The Middle" (Jimmy Eat World song), 2001 *The Middle (Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey song), "The Middle" (Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey song), 2018 *"Middle", a song by Rocket from the Crypt from their 1995 album ''Scream, Dracula, Scream!'' *"The Middle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chordate
A chordate () is an animal of the phylum Chordata (). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five synapomorphies, or primary physical characteristics, that distinguish them from all the other taxa. These five synapomorphies include a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. The name “chordate” comes from the first of these synapomorphies, the notochord, which plays a significant role in chordate structure and movement. Chordates are also Bilateral symmetry, bilaterally symmetric, have a coelom, possess a circulatory system, and exhibit Metameric, metameric segmentation. In addition to the morphological characteristics used to define chordates, analysis of genome sequences has identified two conserved signature indels (CSIs) in their proteins: cyclophilin-like protein and mitochondrial inner membrane protease ATP23, which are exclusively shared by all vertebrates, tunicates and cep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notochord
In anatomy, the notochord is a flexible rod which is similar in structure to the stiffer cartilage. If a species has a notochord at any stage of its life cycle (along with 4 other features), it is, by definition, a chordate. The notochord consists of inner, vacuolated cells covered by fibrous and elastic sheaths, lies along the anteroposterior axis (''front to back''), is usually closer to the dorsal than the ventral surface of the embryo, and is composed of cells derived from the mesoderm. The most commonly cited functions of the notochord are: as a midline tissue that provides directional signals to surrounding tissue during development, as a skeletal (structural) element, and as a vertebral precursor. In lancelets the notochord persists throughout life as the main structural support of the body. In tunicates the notochord is present only in the larval stage, being completely absent in the adult animal. In these invertebrate chordates, the notochord is not vacuolated. In all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chordata
A chordate () is an animal of the phylum Chordata (). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five synapomorphies, or primary physical characteristics, that distinguish them from all the other taxa. These five synapomorphies include a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. The name “chordate” comes from the first of these synapomorphies, the notochord, which plays a significant role in chordate structure and movement. Chordates are also Bilateral symmetry, bilaterally symmetric, have a coelom, possess a circulatory system, and exhibit Metameric, metameric segmentation. In addition to the morphological characteristics used to define chordates, analysis of genome sequences has identified two conserved signature indels (CSIs) in their proteins: cyclophilin-like protein and mitochondrial inner membrane protease ATP23, which are exclusively shared by all vertebrates, tunicates and cep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deuterostomes
Deuterostomia (; in Greek) are animals typically characterized by their anus forming before their mouth during embryonic development. The group's sister clade is Protostomia, animals whose digestive tract development is more varied. Some examples of deuterostomes include vertebrates (and thus humans), sea stars, and crinoids. In deuterostomy, the developing embryo's first opening (the blastopore) becomes the anus, while the mouth is formed at a different site later on. This was initially the group's distinguishing characteristic, but deuterostomy has since been discovered among protostomes as well. This group is also known as enterocoelomates, because their coelom develops through enterocoely. The three major clades of deuterostomes are Chordata (e.g. vertebrates), Echinodermata (e.g. starfish), and Hemichordata (e.g. acorn worms). Together with Protostomia and their out-group Xenacoelomorpha, these compose the Bilateria, animals with bilateral symmetry and three germ layers. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemichordate
Hemichordata is a phylum which consists of triploblastic, enterocoelomate, and bilaterally symmetrical marine deuterostome animals, generally considered the sister group of the echinoderms. They appear in the Lower or Middle Cambrian and include two main classes: Enteropneusta (acorn worms), and Pterobranchia. A third class, Planctosphaeroidea, is known only from the larva of a single species, ''Planctosphaera pelagica''. The class Graptolithina, formerly considered extinct, is now placed within the pterobranchs, represented by a single living genus ''Rhabdopleura''. Acorn worms are solitary worm-shaped organisms. They generally live in burrows (the earliest secreted tubes) and are deposit feeders, but some species are pharyngeal filter feeders, while the family Torquaratoridae are free living detritivores. Many are well known for their production and accumulation of various halogenated phenols and pyrroles. Pterobranchs are filter-feeders, mostly colonial, living in a collageno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Conway Morris
Simon Conway Morris (born 1951) is an English palaeontologist, evolutionary biologist, and astrobiologist known for his study of the fossils of the Burgess Shale and the Cambrian explosion. The results of these discoveries were celebrated in Stephen Jay Gould's 1989 book '' Wonderful Life''. Conway Morris's own book on the subject, ''The Crucible of Creation'' (1998), however, is critical of Gould's presentation and interpretation. Conway Morris, a Christian, holds to theistic views of biological evolution. He has held the Chair of Evolutionary Palaeobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge since 1995. Biography Early years Conway Morris was born on 6 November 1951. A native of Carshalton, Surrey, he was brought up in London, England. and went on to study geology at Bristol University, achieving a First Class Honours degree. He then moved to Cambridge University and completed a PhD at St John's College under Harry Blackmore Whittington. He is pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
