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Onychophoran-like musculature in a phosphatized Cambrian lobopodian

Zhang, X.-G.; Smith, M.R.; Yang, J.; Hou, J.-B.

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Authors

X.-G. Zhang

J. Yang

J.-B. Hou



Abstract

The restricted, exclusively terrestrial distribution of modern Onychophora contrasts strikingly with the rich diversity of onychophoran-like fossils preserved in marine Cambrian Lagerstätten. The transition from these early forebears to the modern onychophoran body plan is poorly constrained, in part owing to the absence of fossils preserving details of the soft anatomy. Here, we report muscle tissue in a new early Cambrian (Stage 3) lobopodian, Tritonychus phanerosarkus gen. et sp. nov., preserved in the Orsten fashion by three-dimensional replication in phosphate. This first report of Palaeozoic onychophoran musculature establishes peripheral musculature as a characteristic of the ancestral panarthropod, but documents an unexpected muscular configuration. Phylogenetic analysis reconstructs T. phanerosarkus as one of a few members of the main onychophoran lineage—which was as rare and as cryptic in the Cambrian period as it is today.

Citation

Zhang, X., Smith, M., Yang, J., & Hou, J. (2016). Onychophoran-like musculature in a phosphatized Cambrian lobopodian. Biology Letters, 12(9), Article 20160492. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0492

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 24, 2016
Online Publication Date Sep 27, 2016
Publication Date Sep 27, 2016
Deposit Date Aug 22, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Biology Letters
Print ISSN 1744-9561
Electronic ISSN 1744-957X
Publisher The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 9
Article Number 20160492
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0492
Publisher URL http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/

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