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Urochordata

Tunicates

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taxon links [down<--]Chordata Interpreting the tree
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

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You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

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Containing group: Chordata

Other Names for Urochordata

References

McHenry, M. J. and S. N. Patek. 2004. The evolution of larval morphology and swimming performance in Ascidians. Evolution 58(6):1209-1224.

Sawada, H., H. Yokosawa and C. Lambert, eds. 2001. The Biology of Ascidians. Springer Verlag, Tokyo.

Stach, T. and J. M. Turbeville. 2002. Phylogeny of Tunicata inferred from molecular and morphological characters. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 25(3):408-428.

Swalla, B.J., C.B. Cameron, L.S. Corley, and J.R. Garey. 2000. Urochordates are monophyletic within the deuterostomes. Systematic Biology 49:122-134.

Turon, X. and S. Lopez-Legentil. 2004. Ascidian molecular phylogeny inferred from mtDNA data with emphasis on the Aplousobranchiata. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33(2):309-320.

Yokobori, S., A. Kurabayashi, B. A. Neilan, T. Maruyama, and E. Hirose. 2006. Multiple origins of the ascidian-Prochloron symbiosis: Molecular phylogeny of photosymbiotic and non-symbiotic colonial ascidians inferred from 18S rDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40(1):8-19.

Yokobori, S., T. Oshima, and H. Wada. 2005. Complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome of Doliolum nationalis with implications for evolution of urochordates. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 34(2):273-283.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Botryllus schlosseri
Location Normandie (FRANCE)
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright ©
Scientific Name Jasis zonaria
Location Madeira
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Rob van Soest (from photo)
Copyright © Peter Wirtz
Scientific Name Pyrosoma atlanticum
Location Madeira
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Rob van Soest (from photo)
Copyright © Peter Wirtz
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Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 2008. Urochordata. Tunicates. Version 10 January 2008 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Urochordata/14821/2008.01.10 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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Urochordata

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