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Evolutionary copycats eventually developed tooth-like structures independent from other vertebrates.
The new revelation appears in Nature and was discovered by the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Previous conventional wisdom suggested that our skeleton and its characteristic bony tissues stemmed from predators that were called conodonts. The skeleton, however, came from our mud-slurping relatives who developed a type of bony armor to defend themselves against predators.
The researchers analyzed the tooth-like skeleton of conodonts by utilizing advanced x-ray systems. The results indicated that the tooth-like structures came from the conodonts’ evolutionary lineage instead of a common ancestor between vertebrates and them.
The data from the study confirmed this theory.
No longer can the case be made that teeth evolved prior to skeletal armor. Essentially, teeth came from the armor of our relatives who didn’t have the ability to chew things.
