Is the "Big Bang" in Animal Evolution Real?

Abstract
The debate on the origin of animals remains topical. In their Perspective, Jermiin et al. discuss the study by Rokas et al. in the same issue, which concludes that the ancestors of living animal phyla arose in two rapid episodes of diversification. Their study goes some way to reconcile the conflicting fossil and molecular data, but Jermiin et al. argue that the debate should perhaps continue.