Brain and eyes of Kerygmachela reveal protocerebral ancestry of the panarthropod head

Tae-Yoon S. Park (), Ji-Hoon Kihm, Jusun Woo, Changkun Park, Won Young Lee, M. Paul Smith, David A. T. Harper, Fletcher Young, Arne T. Nielsen and Jakob Vinther ()
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Tae-Yoon S. Park: Division of Polar Earth-System Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute
Ji-Hoon Kihm: Division of Polar Earth-System Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute
Jusun Woo: Division of Polar Earth-System Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute
Changkun Park: Division of Polar Earth-System Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute
Won Young Lee: Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute
M. Paul Smith: Oxford University Museum of Natural History
David A. T. Harper: Durham University
Fletcher Young: University of Bristol
Arne T. Nielsen: University of Copenhagen
Jakob Vinther: University of Bristol

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Recent discoveries of fossil nervous tissue in Cambrian fossils have allowed researchers to trace the origin and evolution of the complex arthropod head and brain based on stem groups close to the origin of the clade, rather than on extant, highly derived members. Here we show that Kerygmachela from Sirius Passet, North Greenland, a primitive stem-group euarthropod, exhibits a diminutive (protocerebral) brain that innervates both the eyes and frontal appendages. It has been surmised, based on developmental evidence, that the ancestor of vertebrates and arthropods had a tripartite brain, which is refuted by the fossil evidence presented here. Furthermore, based on the discovery of eyes in Kerygmachela, we suggest that the complex compound eyes in arthropods evolved from simple ocelli, present in onychophorans and tardigrades, rather than through the incorporation of a set of modified limbs.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03464-w

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