Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, 650500 Kunming, China and School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK; Institute of Palaeontology, Yunnan University, 650500 Kunming, China; MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan University, 650500 Kunming, China.
Institute of Palaeontology, Yunnan University, 650500 Kunming, China; MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan University, 650500 Kunming, China; Chengjiang Fossil Museum of the Management Committee of the Chengjiang World Heritage Fossil Site, Chengjiang 652599, China.
Curr Biol. 2023 Sep 25;33(18):4006-4013.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.022. Epub 2023 Aug 28.
The early Cambrian Kylinxia zhangi occupies a pivotal position in arthropod evolution, branching from the euarthropod stem lineage between radiodonts (Anomalocaris and relatives) and "great-appendage" arthropods. Its combination of appendage and exoskeletal features is viewed as uniquely bridging the morphologies of so-called "lower" and "upper" stem-group euarthropods. Microtomographic study of new specimens of Kylinxia refines and corrects previous interpretation of head structures in this species. Phylogenetic analyses incorporating new data reinforce the placement of Kylinxia in the euarthropod stem group but support new hypotheses of head evolution. The head of Kylinxia is composed of six segments, as in extant mandibulates, e.g., insects. In Kylinxia, these are an anterior sclerite associated with an unpaired median eye and paired lateral eyes (thus three rather than five eyes as was previously described), deutocerebral frontal-most appendages, and four pairs of biramous appendages (rather than two pairs of uniramous appendages). Phylogenetic trees suggest that a six-segmented head in the euarthropod crown group was already acquired by a common ancestor with Kylinxia. The segmental alignment and homology of spinose frontal-most appendages between radiodonts and upper stem-group euarthropods is bolstered by morphological similarities and inferred phylogenetic continuity between Kylinxia and other stem-group euarthropods.
早寒武世的张氏盔甲鱼在节肢动物进化中占据关键位置,它在放射虫(奇虾及其亲属)和“大附肢”节肢动物之间的真节肢动物主干谱系中分支出来。它的附肢和外骨骼特征的结合被认为独特地连接了所谓的“低级”和“高级”干群真节肢动物的形态。对张氏盔甲鱼新标本的微断层扫描研究改进并纠正了该物种头部结构的先前解释。包含新数据的系统发育分析加强了张氏盔甲鱼在干群真节肢动物中的位置,但支持了头部进化的新假设。张氏盔甲鱼的头部由六个节段组成,与现存的有颚类动物(例如昆虫)相同。在张氏盔甲鱼中,这些节段是与未配对的中央眼睛和配对的侧眼相关的前骨片(因此有三个而不是以前描述的五个眼睛)、后脑额最前附肢和四对双肢附肢(而不是两对单肢附肢)。系统发育树表明,干群真节肢动物的六节段头部已经通过与张氏盔甲鱼具有共同祖先而获得。放射虫和高级干群真节肢动物的刺状额最前附肢的节段排列和同源性得到了形态相似性和推断的进化连续性的支持,张氏盔甲鱼和其他干群真节肢动物之间存在这种连续性。