Origin of jaws - the greatest unsolved mystery of early vertebrate evolution

The evolutionary history of vertebrate reproduction is of central interest to humanity. Copulation and internal fertilization in modern mammals were thought to be independently evolved in sharks, but our new evidence questions this. New techniques developed by us for extracting and investigating fossilized soft tissues in three dimensions have already demonstrated preserved embryos in several extinct groups. Exciting new fossil localities in central Australia and China are producing the oldest known vertebrates with jaws and hard skeletons. Our project will integrate the fossil and molecular clock data to document these major evolutionary innovations, and investigate the idea that internal fertilization originated as jaws first evolved.