Most non‐tetrapod vertebrates develop mineralized extra‐oral elements within the
integument. Known collectively as the integumentary skeleton, these elements represent the …

The stratigraphically earliest and the most primitive examples of vertebrate skeletal
mineralization belong to lineages that are entirely extinct. Therefore, palaeontology offers a …

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 …

Hagfish depart so much from other fishes anatomically that they were sometimes considered
not fully vertebrate. They may represent:(i) an anatomically primitive outgroup of vertebrates …

The phylogeny of early gnathostomes provides an important framework for understanding
one of the most significant evolutionary events, the origin and diversification of jawed …

The interrelationships between major living vertebrate, and even chordate, groups are now
reasonably well resolved thanks to a large amount of generally congruent data derived from …

Two major skeletal systems—the endoskeleton and exoskeleton—are recognized in
vertebrate evolution. Here, we propose that these two systems are distinguished primarily by …

Endochondral bone is the main internal skeletal tissue of nearly all osteichthyans—the
group comprising more than 60,000 living species of bony fishes and tetrapods …

Bone evolved to serve many mechanical and physiological functions. Osteocytes and bone
remodeling first appeared in the dermal skeleton of fish, and subsequently adapted to …

Debate over the origin and evolution of vertebrates has occupied biologists and
palaeontologists alike for centuries. This debate has been refined by molecular …