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• n  animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium
• a  having a backbone or spinal column

• The ratio of vertebrate paleontologists to actual specimens is high, which makes for a lot of theorizing.
• He searched the Rocky Mountain states for vertebrate fossils; he was making the American Museum's vertebrate collection the best in the world.
• But now, according to a survey released in August, this rare freshwater mammal is almost certainly extinct the first aquatic vertebrate species to disappear from the Earth in 50 years, and the first large mammal to fall victim to human impact.

• craniate

• invertebrate

News & Articles

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• How to stop a trunk and start a tail? The leg has the key
  ( Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia ) One of the most remarkable anatomical differences among vertebrate bodies is the relative size of their neck, trunk and tail. In the latest issue of the journal Developmental Cell, Moisés Mallo and his group at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal, showed that the trunk to tail transition is intrinsically associated with the induction of the legs and ...
  June 11, 2013 - EurekAlert!
• Evolutionary history of a cancer-related gene
  Scientists have described how a genetic duplication that took place in the vertebrate ancestor some 500 million years ago encouraged the evolution of the ASF1b gene; a gene essential for proper cell division and related to some types of cancer such as breast cancer.
  June 6, 2013 - Science Daily
• A CNIO study tracks the evolutionary history of a cancer-related gene
  ( Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO) ) A study published today by scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre describes how a genetic duplication that took place in the vertebrate ancestor some 500 million years ago encouraged the evolution of the ASF1b gene; a gene essential for proper cell division and related to some types of cancer such as breast cancer ...
  June 6, 2013 - EurekAlert!

Quotes

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• Russell Mittermeier in Nigeria Daily Independent
  The results from the most recent IUCN assessment of the world's mammals indicate that primates are among the most endangered vertebrate groups,says Dr. Russell Mittermeier, Chair of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and President of...
• Armand Marie Leroi in Thaindian.com (blog)
  This technology, and these maps, should give vertebrate embryologists the ability to study development with the detail and subtlety that has long been available for worms,said Armand Leroi, an evolutionary developmental biologist from...
• Karen Davis in MarketWatch
  United Poultry Concerns is deeply gratified that the Education Law protecting live vertebrate animals in the State of New York was upheld,says UPC President Karen Davis. "It gives confidence to the humane community, which increasingly is...