Who Are The Ancestors Of Modern Squid?
Saturday, December 4, 2010 - 18:40
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Some people might suggest the nautilus as the ancestor of modern squid, since they're the only "ancient-looking" cephalopods most of us have seen. But the lineage that led to modern nautiluses and the lineage that led to modern squid diverged long before there was anything that looked like a squid. Here is a tree of evolutionary relationships within the Cephalopoda, from the magnificent Tree of Life website. Others might claim ammonites as the ancestors of squid, but as is clear from the above tree, they're not a much better candidate than nautilus. Ammonites and coleoids were on different trajectories, going way back. read more