Ancient Cambrian Fossil Unravels Evolutionary Enigma

The discovery of a well-preserved, half-billion-year-old fossil of an ancient tunicate species called Megasiphon thylakos is shedding light on the evolutionary origins of vertebrates. Tunicates are the sister group of vertebrates, and this fossil provides insights into what early tunicates looked like and how they lived. The fossil resembles ascidiacea, suggesting that this body form is ancestral. The findings also suggest that tunicates originated around 500 million years ago. Further research is needed to uncover the evolutionary connections between tunicates, vertebrates, and other deuterostomes.