The oldest complete jawed vertebrates from the early Silurian of China

Y Zhu, Q Li, J Lu, Y Chen, J Wang, Z Gai, W Zhao… - Nature, 2022‏ - nature.com
Molecular studies suggest that the origin of jawed vertebrates was no later than the Late
Ordovician period (around 450 million years ago (Ma)) 1, 2. Together with disarticulated …

The oldest gnathostome teeth

PS Andreev, IJ Sansom, Q Li, W Zhao, J Wang… - Nature, 2022‏ - nature.com
Mandibular teeth and dentitions are features of jawed vertebrates that were first acquired by
the Palaeozoic ancestors,–of living chondrichthyans and osteichthyans. The fossil record …

Spiny chondrichthyan from the lower Silurian of South China

PS Andreev, IJ Sansom, Q Li, W Zhao, J Wang… - Nature, 2022‏ - nature.com
Modern representatives of chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fishes) and osteichthyans (bony
fishes and tetrapods) have contrasting skeletal anatomies and developmental trajectories …

Ultrastructure reveals ancestral vertebrate pharyngeal skeleton in yunnanozoans

Q Tian, F Zhao, H Zeng, M Zhu, B Jiang - Science, 2022‏ - science.org
Pharyngeal arches are a key innovation that likely contributed to the evolution of the jaws
and braincase of vertebrates. It has long been hypothesized that the pharyngeal (branchial) …

Mineralized cartilage and bone-like tissues in chondrichthyans offer potential insights into the evolution and development of mineralized tissues in the vertebrate …

OJ Atake, BF Eames - Frontiers in Genetics, 2021‏ - frontiersin.org
The impregnation of biominerals into the extracellular matrix of living organisms, a process
termed biomineralization, gives rise to diverse mineralized (or calcified) tissues in …

Transcription factors of the Alx family: Evolutionarily conserved regulators of deuterostome skeletogenesis

JM Khor, CA Ettensohn - Frontiers in genetics, 2020‏ - frontiersin.org
Members of the alx gene family encode transcription factors that contain a highly conserved
Paired-class, DNA-binding homeodomain, and a C-terminal OAR/Aristaless domain …

Reassessing the phylogeny and divergence times of sloths (Mammalia: Pilosa: Folivora), exploring alternative morphological partitioning and dating models

DM Casali, A Boscaini, TJ Gaudin… - Zoological Journal of …, 2022‏ - academic.oup.com
Phylogenetic relationships among sloths (Folivora) have been extensively studied in the
past few decades using maximum parsimony approaches. Recently, Bayesian phylogenetic …

Bone metabolism and evolutionary origin of osteocytes: Novel application of FIB-SEM tomography

Y Haridy, M Osenberg, A Hilger, I Manke… - Science …, 2021‏ - science.org
Lacunae and canaliculi spaces of osteocytes are remarkably well preserved in fossilized
bone and serve as an established proxy for bone cells. The earliest bone in the fossil record …

Synovial joints were present in the common ancestor of jawed fish but lacking in jawless fish

N Sharma, Y Haridy, N Shubin - PLoS biology, 2025‏ - journals.plos.org
Synovial joints, characterized by reciprocally congruent and lubricated articular surfaces
separated by a cavity, can simultaneously provide mobility and load bearing. Here, we study …

Bony-fish-like scales in a Silurian maxillate placoderm

X Cui, M Friedman, Y Yu, Y Zhu, M Zhu - Nature Communications, 2023‏ - nature.com
Major groups of jawed vertebrates exhibit contrasting conditions of dermal plates and
scales. But the transition between these conditions remains unclear due to rare information …