#  New species of chordate discovered 

 





August 01, 2024

 

 

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From the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology:

In a new study published in [Royal Society Open Science](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.240350), research scientist Rudy Lerosey-Aubril and Professor and Curator in Invertebrate Paleontology [Javier Ortega-Hernández](https://ortega-hernandezlab.oeb.harvard.edu) present their finding of a new species of chordate.

Chordates, though part of the time in the Cambrian fossil record (518 million years ago) when the most animal phyla diversified and inhabited the Earth's oceans, make up a small portion of fossils from Cambrian sites worldwide. The new species, named *Nuucichthys rhynchocephalus*, was part of a collection in the Museum of Natural History of Utah and is an important contribution to the fossil record.

*Nuucichthys* has a finless torpedo-shaped body that includes several markers characteristic of vertebrates. It is one of only four species displaying the early evolutionary stage of vertebrate lineage and is one of human's oldest relatives.

Early vertebrates start to have big eyes and a series of muscle blocks that we call myotomes, and this is something we recognize very well in our fossil, Lerosey-Aubril stated.

Though *Nuucichthys* resembles larval fish, it lacks fins and would have had limited swimming capabilities, which clearly points to some vertebrate affinities according to Lerosey-Aubril. The find is particularly notable for the rarity of these fossils due to the lack of bones in the early evolution of vertebrates.

Ortega-Hernández noted that due to the rarity of these fossils understanding the evolution from invertebrate to vertebrate is difficult, the new fossil helps fill in some of the gaps in knowledge.

The Drumian Marjum site, where *Nuucichthys* was found, has been intensively investigated since 2022 by an international group of paleontologists led by Lerosey-Aubril and Ortega-Hernández. Both believe continuing collecting efforts at the site may result in the discovery of new specimens in the future.



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Invertebrate Paleontology ](/news/invertebrate-paleontology)