Over the years, numerous hypotheses for how vertebrates first appeared and developed have emerged, Jiang tells The Scientist. “Any progress about the [yunnanozoan’s] phylogenetic position is key to ...

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to achieve powered ... a testament to the evolutionary ingenuity of life on Earth. As the earliest vertebrates to conquer the skies, they laid the groundwork ...

Over 390 million years ago, the ancestors of modern land animals said, “Feet before fins,” and took their first steps on earth ... understanding of how early vertebrates might have taken ...