Study of 385-million-year-old shark suggests humans and sharks shared common ancestor 440 million years ago
January 4, 2018 by Bob Yirka, Phys.org report
A team of researchers with the University of Chicago, University College Dublin and Cambridge University studying a 385-million-year-old shark fossil has found evidence that suggests humans and sharks shared a common ancestor approximately 440 million years ago.
The researchers were studying a shark specimen found in Germany back in 2001. At the time, it was believed the shark was toothless, and for that reason, scientists gave it the name Gladbachus adentatus. In this new effort, the researchers conducted a much more thorough study of the remains, and in so doing, discovered that it represented a transitional species between acanthodians and chondrichthyes. This bit of evidence offered a better picture of a time period for which there are few fossil records. It suggests a new estimate for the time during which humans and sharks shared a common ancestor—approximately 440 million years ago.
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2018-01-million-year-old-shark-humans-sharks-common.html#jCp
