Talk:Saccorhytus

Primitive?

"Saccorhytus coronarius is the most primitive known species of the superphylum deuterostomes".

Unclear to me what the sources mean by primitive. Would 'oldest known' be factually accurate? Looking at the Wikipedia page for primitive it expressly states that the word primitive cannot apply to a species; strengthening my impression that the phrase made no sense.

– ASA-IRULE (talk) 05:58, 31 January 2017 (UTC)

According to The Free Dictionary, the first definition of the adjective form of primitive is something like "occuring in an early stage of development or evolution", so I think the usage in the original sources is valid, and it also alludes to the importance of the discovery; i.e., this is possibly a common ancestor to the previously-discovered deuterostomes. I think the Wikipedia page for "primitive" means that contemporary species cannot properly be called more primitive/advanced than each other because primitive relates to order (i.e., what came first) as opposed to "level of sophistication". But it should be OK to say that Homo erectus is more primitive than Homo sapiens because it appeared first on the evolutionary line (not because it's less "sophisticated").

However, "oldest known" is not incorrect, and I don't have a problem using it if it prevents some confusion. The importance of the discovery could be discussed explicitly in a different part of the article.

– TastyChikan (talk) 19:28, 31 January 2017 (UTC)

References

Deuterostomia without anus ?

Can somebody explain how researchers decided to put it in the Deuterostomia without having a second "mouth" (anus) ? That's what 'Deutero-stomia' means. Thank you.