Before starfish found their shape, their ancestor ate with tentacles

Several exceptionally preserved 518-million-year-old fossils from southwestern China reveal a soft-bodied animal with a complex tentacle-feeding system. Researchers place Yujingia glutenotunica close to the last common ancestor of the group containing starfish, sea urchins and acorn worms. The anatomy is fossil evidence; its exact position in the family tree and the evolutionary path to fivefold symmetry are interpretations still being refined.