Meet mankind's newest relative: a mudworm in a Swedish fjord

The Independent (U.K.) ^ | 08/21/03 | Steve Connor

[Pokey78]

At just over an inch long, the mudworm may not look like much but scientists have discovered it has the same evolutionary lineage as humans.

A DNA study has revealed that a worm found living at the bottom of a Swedish fjord shared an ancestor with Homo sapiens 500 million years ago. In fact, the creature, known by its Latin name Xenoturbella bocki,is more closely related to human beings than shellfish.

Xenoturbella, or "strange flatworm", is not immediately recognisable as a relative. It has a primitive body plan with no proper sex organs, gut, excretory system or brain. Scientists previously thought it belonged to the same group as bivalve molluscs because it carried mollusc eggs, but in fact it had eaten them.

Max Telford, from Cambridge University, who led the British and Dutch team, said: "We have now been able to show that, amongst all of the invertebrates that exist, Xenoturbella is one of our very closest relatives. It is fascinating to think that whatever long-dead animal this simple worm evolved from, so did we."

The animal kingdom is divided into three main groups of species: ecdysozoa, animals with a sheddable outer layer; trochozoa, comprising molluscs and earthworms; and deuterostomes, including vertebrates, such as humans, and starfish, sea urchins and certain marine worms.

The research, published in the journal Nature, categorises the mudworm as a deuterostome. "Xenoturbella has joined a pretty exclusive group of species," Dr Telford said.

Scientists hope the worm will give them a better understanding of vertebrate evolution. It may help researchers to characterise the common ancestor, thought to have lived 500 million years ago.

[LibKill]

I'd recommend the worms be served in a cheese sause with bacon bits.

Can I have my cheese sause and bacon bits without worms? Pretty-please?

[shaggy eel]

,,, if we're related to these worms, it would follow that you should seek inclusion for them on your dinner plate and respect their diversity in any sort of sauce.

[LibKill]

,,, if we're related to these worms, it would follow that you should seek inclusion for them on your dinner plate and respect their diversity in any sort of sauce.

I am NOT a specieist! Really. I'm not! I respect all of our multi-species diversity. The dolphin and the whale, they are my BROTHERS!

Oh, hell. Who am I kidding?

Hand over the bacon with all speed!

BUT NO WORMS!

[shaggy eel]

BUT NO WORMS!

,,, you win. I'll have the worms. If they don't get UN protection as a species, at least let's hope they have jobs for them at the UN. There's plenty of precedents set, after all!

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[null and void]

But at least we're still naming the creatures as commanded. he said adamantly...

[null and void]

Can I have my cheese sauce and bacon bits without worms? Pretty-please?

If we took the worms out, it wouldn't be crunchy...

[RightWhale]

"500 million years just doesn't add up," he added calculatingly.

[null and void]

"I'll get even with you tonight," he said darkly...

[js1138]

mudworm ping

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[VadeRetro]

I resent that!

[Doctor Stochastic]

That's an odd statement.

[Physicist]

It's amazing that "scientists" can just say anything with impunity, based on unproven observations... then hide behind the word 'theory'!

Yeah, who are they gonna believe: you, or their lyin' eyes?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

>> If DNA changes, evolves 1% every million years, then this creature would be 500% different from us

I think the right formual is 1.00- (0.99)^500 = 99.34% different. 1 - (0.99)^N ~ 0.01*N for small N. Still don't know how you arrived at your premise, "If DNA changes, evolves... or exactly what it means.

[Right Wing Professor]

The stupidity of educated people!

Yeah, thank heavens we have high-school dropouts filling the really important roles in our society.

[whattajoke]

While you may very well "be the man," I must call attention the absurdity of this:

The stupidity of educated people!

Huh? With their politics, maybe, but in hard science your statement is just odd. But not as odd as:

people that really believe in this believe we have come from a rock!

In light of the fact that the article clearly states that humans "came from" (in the simplest of terms) a worm, not rocks, I'm confused as to which article you read, if any at all.

Evolution is not a science, it is a religion, theories with no science to prove it!

All the exclamation points in the world won't make this fallacy any more correct.

[PoorMuttly]

Muttly like cheese.

[RightWhale]

you arrived at your premise

Tnx for the formula. We'll have to ask Dr Kaku how he intend his 1% number to be applied.

[Doctor Stochastic]

"Every valley shall be exa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-lted," he said plainly.