Comment on Xiao et al. (2009), response to: the rise of bilaterians |
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| Authors: | Gary Freeman |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Section of Integrative Biology , University of Texas at Austin , 1 University Station C0930, Austin, TX, 78712, USA gfree@mail.utexas.edu |
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| Abstract: | In this rejoinder to Xiao et al., I will concentrate on two issues: the methodology used by Shen et al. and the assertion that the data supporting the existence of crown-group sponges, cnidarians and stem-group bilaterians, which pre-date the beginning of the Cambrian by at least 40–55 million years, is so weak that it should be dismissed. |
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| Keywords: | promorphology earliest crown radiates bilaterians |
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