Over the past few years, studies of genomes have confused what we thought we knew about the origin of animal life. Instead of the simple sponges being the earliest branch off the animal tree, a group ...

At present there are many animal phyla that contain only a few species. The existence of these small phyla can be used to test assumptions about speciation and extinction in multicellular animals. We ...

Nearly 30 years ago, a research vessel off the southeast coast of Australia dragged up samples of the sea floor from depths of 400m and 1000m. Hidden away within the samples were a few unexpected gems ...

You’ve heard of a sea cucumber, but how about a sea mushroom? This week, scientists described a mushroom-shaped sea creature that may be in a phylum all its own. Two species of the newly described ...

The group with the world's simplest animals -- tiny blob-like life forms with no organs and just a few cell types -- finally has a fleshed-out family tree. The study comes more than 100 years after ...

All placozoans are superficially identical. But comparative genomic data reveals the presence of different genera. This is the first time that a new animal genus has been defined solely by genomics.

Which group of animals evolved first? This problem has become a bone of contention among biologists. An international research team is now confident that the definitive answer is at hand: Sponges ...

The fundamental tree of life might have to be redrawn. Researchers looking into the branch that contains all bacteria have discovered that it is far more complex than previously thought. By sequencing ...

The group with the world’s simplest animals—tiny blob-like life forms with no organs and just a few cell types—finally has a fleshed-out family tree built by a research group led by the American ...