this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2023
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Science

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Scientists Have Found the First Branch on the Tree of Life (www.popularmechanics.com)
submitted 2 years ago by carturo222@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/science@beehaw.org
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[–] withersailor@aussie.zone 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

For years, debate had raged over whether the first to diverge was the sea sponge or the comb jelly.

Which means that we have a winner! The sister to all other animals, the first to branch off, and the most genetically isolated animal is … drumroll please … the comb jelly!

Good to know.

[–] WhirledWhyDweeb@fedia.io 1 points 2 years ago

Even then, it's much more likely that many other types of animals diverged earlier, and simply left no ancestors. Comb jellies are merely the first to have left surviving descendants for this long.