IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms4560.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An exceptionally preserved arthropod cardiovascular system from the early Cambrian

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoya Ma

    (Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University
    The Natural History Museum)

  • Peiyun Cong

    (Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University)

  • Xianguang Hou

    (Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University)

  • Gregory D. Edgecombe

    (The Natural History Museum)

  • Nicholas J. Strausfeld

    (University of Arizona)

Abstract

The assumption that amongst internal organs of early arthropods only the digestive system withstands fossilization is challenged by the identification of brain and ganglia in early Cambrian fuxianhuiids and megacheirans from southwest China. Here we document in the 520-million-year-old Chengjiang arthropod Fuxianhuia protensa an exceptionally preserved bilaterally symmetrical organ system corresponding to the vascular system of extant arthropods. Preserved primarily as carbon, this system includes a broad dorsal vessel extending through the thorax to the brain where anastomosing branches overlap brain segments and supply the eyes and antennae. The dorsal vessel provides segmentally paired branches to lateral vessels, an arthropod ground pattern character, and extends into the anterior part of the abdomen. The addition of its vascular system to documented digestive and nervous systems resolves the internal organization of F. protensa as the most completely understood of any Cambrian arthropod, emphasizing complexity that had evolved by the early Cambrian.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoya Ma & Peiyun Cong & Xianguang Hou & Gregory D. Edgecombe & Nicholas J. Strausfeld, 2014. "An exceptionally preserved arthropod cardiovascular system from the early Cambrian," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4560
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4560
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4560
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms4560?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4560. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.