Ancient Blind Swimming Creatures Identified as Distant Human Cousins

Posted on October 16, 2014

Australian scientists have identified an ancient blind swimming water creature as a distant cousins of vertebrate animals. The creatures, called vetulicolians, lived about 500 million years ago. The scientists say the vetulicolians were abundant throughout the world during their time period on Earth.

University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum researchers say the creatures were shaped like a figure eight and were filter feeders. The researchers say the vetulicolians belong in the same group with other vertebrate animals. The researchers say vetulicolians have a long tail that is supported by a stiff rod, which resembles a precursor to the backbone. Vetulicolians have been studied since 1911. New fossils were recently discovered on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia.

Dr. Diego Garcia-Bellido, ARC Future Fellow with the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute, says in a statement, "Although not directly related to humans in the evolutionary line, we can confirm that these ancient water creatures are among our distant cousins. They are close relatives of vertebrates - animals with backbones, such as ourselves. Vetulicolians have a long tail supported by a stiff rod. This rod resembles a notochord, which is the precursor of the backbone and is unique to vertebrates and their relatives."

Dr. Diego Garcia-Bellido also says vetulicolians were large in number and distribution across the planet during the Cambrian period. He says they were "one of the first representatives of our cousins, which include sea squirts and salps."

This evolutionary tree provided by the University of Adelaide and South Australian Museum shows the ancient vetulicolians on a branch alongside vertebrate animals.

ANIMALS