Segmentation is the secret behind the extraordinary diversification of animals
Friday, July 16, 2010 - 12:42
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Segmentation, the repetition of identical anatomical units, seems to be the secret behind the diversity and longevity of the largest and most common animal groups on Earth. Researchers from CNRS and Universite Paris Diderot have shown that this characteristic was inherited from a common segmented ancestor thought to have lived 600 million years ago and whose presence `changed the face of the world`. This discovery is published in Science on 16 July 2010.