Harvey Thomas H P, Butterfield Nicholas J
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK.
Nature. 2008 Apr 17;452(7189):868-71. doi: 10.1038/nature06724. Epub 2008 Mar 12.
Most Cambrian arthropods employed simple feeding mechanisms requiring only low degrees of appendage differentiation. In contrast, post-Cambrian crustaceans exhibit a wide diversity of feeding specializations and possess a vast ecological repertoire. Crustaceans are evident in the Cambrian fossil record, but have hitherto been known exclusively from small individuals with limited appendage differentiation. Here we describe a sophisticated feeding apparatus from an Early Cambrian arthropod that had a body length of several centimetres. Details of the mouthparts resolve this taxon as a probable crown-group (pan)crustacean, while its feeding style, which allowed it to generate and handle fine food particles, significantly expands the known ecological capabilities of Cambrian arthropods. This Early Cambrian record predates the major expansions of large-bodied, particle-handling crustaceans by at least one hundred million years, emphasizing the importance of ecological context in driving adaptive radiations.
大多数寒武纪节肢动物采用简单的摄食机制，只需要低度的附肢分化。相比之下，寒武纪之后的甲壳类动物表现出广泛多样的摄食特化，拥有丰富的生态技能。甲壳类动物在寒武纪化石记录中很明显，但迄今为止仅从小个体中得知，其附肢分化有限。在这里，我们描述了一种来自早寒武纪节肢动物的复杂摄食器官，该节肢动物体长数厘米。口器的细节将这个分类单元确定为可能的冠群（泛）甲壳类动物，而其摄食方式使其能够产生并处理细小的食物颗粒，这显著扩展了已知的寒武纪节肢动物的生态能力。这一早寒武纪记录比大型、处理颗粒的甲壳类动物的主要扩张至少早一亿年，强调了生态背景在推动适应性辐射中的重要性。
