Revealed: Earth's First Animal, And It's Not A Sponge ...

The evolutionary history of the comb jelly has revealed surprising
clues about Earth's first animal. Credit: Casey Dunn

(scientificblogging) -- A new study mapping the evolutionary history of animals has shaken up the tree of life a little. It indicates that Earth's first animal - a mysterious comb jelly whose characteristics can only be inferred from fossils and studies of living animals - was probably significantly more complex than previously believed.

Using new high-powered technologies for analyzing massive volumes of genetic data, the study defined the earliest splits at the base of the animal tree of life. The tree of life is a hierarchical representation of the evolutionary relationships between species that was introduced by Charles Darwin. full story