Advanced Chordate Zoology

The origin and evolution of chordates is one of the most mysterious and interesting phenomena in evolutionary development science. Chordates are creatures characterized by possession of a notochord and pharyngeal gill openings. They comprise of three cephalochordates, urochordates (or tunicates), and vertebrates. Chordates belong to a supraphyletic gathering of deuterostomes, together with echinoderms and hemichordates, and are thought to have been derived from the regular ancestors of deuterostomes.