Xenoturbella: Diet of worms

HeXp£Øi±

Well-Known Member
Xenoturbella is a small and simple marine worm, first described in 1949, that has proved troublesome to taxonomists, what they call "enigmatic". First described as a platyhelminthes flatworm, it has since been claimed as a relative of the hemichordates and echinoderms, among other things. In 1997 it was reported that Xenoturbella produced mollusc-like eggs and contained mollusc-like DNA. Despite looking nothing like one, Xenoturbella, it seemed, was a mollusc with an adult form that had become degenerate. But now it emerges that this brief sojourn with the Mollusca was the result of DNA contamination from mollusc embryos that had been eaten by the worm. New evidence shows that Xenoturbella is a primitive deuterostome, related to acorn worms and echinoderms. As such it is probably the most primitive extant creature in the group of organisms that includes the chordates, and therefore humans.

http://www.nature.com/nature/links/030821/030821-6.html
 

HeXp£Øi±

Well-Known Member
Translation= According to the DNA information one of humans closest relatives is a worm. :rofl: Why does that not surprise me.
 

HeXp£Øi±

Well-Known Member
Not one person is going to comment on this!? I guess that doesn't surprise me either. Just for that i'm going to bash anyone who even ettempts to begin any debate on evolution or creationism.
*poke2*
 

tommyj27

Not really Banned
i thought this thread some weird anti-vegetarian sect that eats only worms :retard:

worms, politicians, related? duh.
 

HeXp£Øi±

Well-Known Member
chcr said:
Perhaps science fails to allow for coincidence?

2. Had to start somewhere.

It really is interesting though isn't it? Just kind of throws a nut in the works. Science is so much more fun when you don't have all the answers.
 

chcr

Too cute for words
Well, science never has all the answers (that'd be boring, IMO) but your right, it is interesting. Maybe they are where we come form, more or less.
 
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