Researchers have elucidated the evolutionary origins of placodes and neural crests, which are defining features of vertebrates, through lineage tracing and genetic analysis in Ciona intestinalis, a ...

This tiny frog in the world lives in the leaf litter of Papua New Guinea's rainforests and can jump over 30 times its body ...

New research from the University of St Andrews has discovered a crucial piece in the puzzle of how all animals with a spine - including all mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians - evolved. In a paper ...

Several "brainy" genes that were duplicated in a tiny sea creature nearly 550 million years ago may have led to the massive expansion in intelligence in vertebrate species, two new studies have found.

Two fish fossils found in China have given us more insight into what bony fish looked like before separate lineages diverged.

From genetics alone, scientists can now predict how long any of myriad different creatures can live. The “lifespan clock” estimates vertebrate animals’ (those with a backbone) longevity — including ...

The water-to-land transition stands as one of the most significant events in vertebrate evolution, giving rise to the two ...

Over 500 land-based vertebrates — animals with spines — are on the brink of extinction. “We are no longer looking at the loss of obscure species that most people aren’t interested in,” Tierra Curry, a ...