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Sophisticated digestive systems in early arthropods

Author

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  • Jean Vannier

    (Université Lyon 1, UMR 5276 du CNRS, Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement, bâtiment GEODE, 2, rue Raphaël Dubois)

  • Jianni Liu

    (Early Life Institute, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University)

  • Rudy Lerosey-Aubril

    (Université Lyon 1, UMR 5276 du CNRS, Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement, bâtiment GEODE, 2, rue Raphaël Dubois)

  • Jakob Vinther

    (University of Bristol)

  • Allison C. Daley

    (University of Oxford
    Oxford University Museum of Natural History)

Abstract

Understanding the way in which animals diversified and radiated during their early evolutionary history remains one of the most captivating of scientific challenges. Integral to this is the ‘Cambrian explosion’, which records the rapid emergence of most animal phyla, and for which the triggering and accelerating factors, whether environmental or biological, are still unclear. Here we describe exceptionally well-preserved complex digestive organs in early arthropods from the early Cambrian of China and Greenland with functional similarities to certain modern crustaceans and trace these structures through the early evolutionary lineage of fossil arthropods. These digestive structures are assumed to have allowed for more efficient digestion and metabolism, promoting carnivory and macrophagy in early arthropods via predation or scavenging. This key innovation may have been of critical importance in the radiation and ecological success of Arthropoda, which has been the most diverse and abundant invertebrate phylum since the Cambrian.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean Vannier & Jianni Liu & Rudy Lerosey-Aubril & Jakob Vinther & Allison C. Daley, 2014. "Sophisticated digestive systems in early arthropods," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-9, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4641
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4641
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