Re: The most important fossil discovery in 2004 (your opinions?)

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> The structure in the tail is probably a noto-
> or stomochord or some other stiffening structure. That such a structure is
> ancestral for deuterostomes is indicated by its presence in hemichordates,
> the living sister group to echinoderms.

But then larval tunicates have a gut rudiment in their "tail", and the 
functional anus (in a dorsal position on the trunk) is thought to be 
tertiary.

> If the tail structure is a gut, I
> fail to see what the posterior cone could be.

:-)