The vertebrate body plan emerged in concert with extensive changes to anterior chordate morphology, including assembly of a craniofacial skeleton, expansion of the anterior neuroepithelium into a ...

There are millions of different types of living things on Earth. In order to keep track of them all, scientists put living things into groups based on characteristics that they have that are the same.

The findings suggest that the appearance of the vertebrate head skeleton ‘did not depend on evolution of a new skeletal tissue, as is commonly thought, but on the spread of this tissue throughout the ...

Vertebrates produce diverse proteins from single genes, unlike invertebrates. This protein diversity helps vertebrates develop complex organs and cell types. University of St Andrews research offers ...

Charles Darwin proposed that evolution is driven by gradual variations in organisms that have a survival advantage in a changing environment. But University of Maryland evolutionary biologist Karen ...