New genomic research by Matthias Obst of the Department of Zoology at the University of Gothenburg, due to be published in Nature on 10 April, shows that the oldest extant phylum among Earth's animals is the ctenophores (Sw. kammaneter), not, as previously assumed, the sponges.
Via Dagens Nyheter.
[More blog entries about zoology, ctenophores, evolution; zoologi, kammaneter, evolution.]
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Here's something for my fellow burial aficionados to ponder. The news item's headline is overstated ("Woman Grieved for Seven Years at Empty Grave"), but the actual occurrence is kind of interesting.
A Gothenburg woman grieved for seven years at her mother's grave, but the urn with the mother's…
In today's paper issue of main Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter is a news item headlined "Hobby Researcher Gives New Signs to Stones" (currently not available on-line, but here's another relevant piece). It relays a few statements from museologist Ewa Bergdahl of the Swedish National Heritage Board…
Reading up on some pseudoscientific ideas common among dowsing-rod enthusiasts, I happened upon a funny detail. Many Swedish dowsers believe in the "Curry grid", consisting of "power lines" across the surface of the Earth, detectable only by dowsing. They were invented (not discovered, as they are…
The Department of Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg recently published a nice little book written in Swedish by the seasoned contract archaeologist Marianne Lönn: Uppdragsarkeologi och forskning, "contract archaeology and research". Lönn's main theses are:
Archaeologists look at old…
That totally kicks fucking ass!! Ctenophora has always been my favorite fucking phylum!!
From the paper:
"This result, which has not been postulated before, should be viewed as provisional until more data are considered from placozoans and additional sponges."
Ah, the sponges are still trying to mop up, then.
Comb jellies in English.
Matthias Obst ... at the University of Gothenburg
Actually, at Kristineberg Marine Research Station, part of the university since January and now known as "Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences - Kristineberg". To celebrate the new glorious union the actual geographic location is being somewhat downplayed. Don't you just love university politics! ;)
and as for the results, I'm beginning to wonder if Xenoturbella will one day be revealed as a running joke of taxonomists? "Let's see what we can pair it with this time!"