Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Palaeontology

Decay distorts ancestry

Nature volume 463, pages 741–742 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Experiments with simple chordate animals show how decay may make the resulting fossils seem less evolved. The consequence is to distort evidence of the evolution of the earliest vertebrates and their precursors.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: 'Stem-ward slippage.'
Figure 2: Early Cambrian yunnanozoan.

A, D. SIVETER/REF. 2; B, J. CHEN

References

  1. Sansom, R. S., Gabbott, S. E. & Purnell, M. A. Nature 463, 797–800 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hou, X.-G. et al. The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life (Blackwell, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Caron, J.-B. & Rudkin, D. (eds) A Burgess Shale Primer: History, Geology, and Research Highlights (Burgess Shale Consortium, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Briggs, D. E. G. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 31, 275–301 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Gabbott, S. E., Hou, X., Norry, M. J. & Siveter, D. J. Geology 32, 901–904 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Donoghue, P. C. J. & Purnell, M. A. BioEssays 31, 178–189 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Schäfer, W. Ecology and Palaeoecology of Marine Environments (Chicago Univ. Press, 1972).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Derek E. G. Briggs is in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. derek.briggs@yale.edu,

    Derek E. G. Briggs

Authors
  1. Derek E. G. Briggs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Briggs, D. Decay distorts ancestry. Nature 463, 741–742 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/463741a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/463741a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing