According to the generally accepted theory of the origin of vertebrates, the blind filter larvae of modern lampreys,
Its reliability was called into question after paleontologists discovered lamprey fossils dating from 310 to 360 million years old in Carboniferous sediments in South Africa and the United States.
All stages of the development of the ancients were presented there.animals - from newly hatched fry, barely reaching 15 millimeters in length and not yet deprived of their yolk sac, to adults. It turned out that the ancient lampreys, which, unlike their modern counterparts, lived in the sea, and not in fresh water, did not go through the stage of ammocetes.
Modern lamprey larvae have been used inas a model for the ancestral condition that gave rise to the vertebrate lineage. They appeared to be quite primitive, comparable to worm-like invertebrates, and their qualities were consistent with the supposed description of vestigial forms dating back to the beginning of vertebrate evolution. But now we have virtually eliminated lampreys from the ancestry of vertebrates. Now we need an alternative.
Tetsuto Miyashita, lead author of the study
An alternative common ancestor, according tothe authors of the work claim to be the armored jawless fish of the ostracoderm. They can now be seen as the root element of the vertebrate family tree.
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