(Solved): Colonial flagellate hypothesis Complete the following paragraph to describe the current hypothesis ...

Colonial flagellate hypothesis Complete the following paragraph to describe the current hypothesis for the origin of animals. Some choices may be used more than once. The colonial flagellate hypothesis states that animals descended from an ancestor that resembled a hollow spherical colony of flagellated cells. The choanoflagellates most closely resemble the last unicellular ancestor of animals, both physically and in terms of molecular data. The choanoflagellates

are autotrophic

and therefore flagellated

; they are specialized cells

and they exist as colonies of cells. It is thought that these cells aggregated to form a hollow sphere, which allowed for the development of tissues

. Invaginations of these aggregated cells are thought to have allowed for the development of specialized cells

.