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Arthropod Superfamilies
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arthropod cuticle, cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate. The arthropod body plan consists of segments, each with a pair of appendages. Arthropods are bilaterally symmetrical and their body possesses an exoskeleton, external skeleton. In order to keep growing, they must go through stages of moulting, a process by which they shed their exoskeleton to reveal a new one. Some species have wings. They are an extremely diverse group, with up to 10 million species. The haemocoel, an arthropod's internal cavity, through which its haemolymph – analogue of blood – circulates, accommodates its interior Organ (anatomy), organs; it has an open circulatory system. Like their exteriors, the internal or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago (mya) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period mya. Its subdivisions, and its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established as "Cambrian series" by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for 'Cymru' (Wales), where Britain's Cambrian rocks are best exposed. Sedgwick identified the layer as part of his task, along with Roderick Murchison, to subdivide the large "Transition Series", although the two geologists disagreed for a while on the appropriate categorization. The Cambrian is unique in its unusually high proportion of sedimentary deposits, sites of exceptional preservation where "soft" parts of organisms are preserved as well as their more resistant shells. As a result, our understanding of the Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pambdelurion
''Pambdelurion'' is an extinct genus of panarthropod from the Cambrian aged Sirius Passet site in northern Greenland. Like the morphologically similar ''Kerygmachela'' from the same locality, ''Pambdelurion'' is thought to be closely related to arthropods, combining characteristics of " lobopodians" with those of primitive arthropods. Description ''Pambdelurion'' was large for a Cambrian animal, and is estimated to have reached a length of . ''Omnidens'', an organism from China that closely resembles ''Pambdelurion'' and may even be synonymous with it, reached even larger sizes, estimated to be based on the proportions of ''Pambdelurion''. The head of ''Pambdelurion'' bore a large pair of frontal appendages, homologous to the antennae of onychophorans and frontal appendages of radiodonts. These frontal appendages were weakly muscled and relatively soft, suggesting they may have served primarily as sensory organs, rather than for grasping prey. Between the appendages are a pair ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period () and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described. By the time trilobites first appeared in the fossil record, they were already highly diversified and geographically dispersed. Because trilobites had wide diversity and an easily fossilized exoskeleton, they left an extensive fossil record. The stu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trilobita
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian Stage (geology), stage of the Early Cambrian Period (geology), period () and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in Permian–Triassic extinction event, the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described. By the time trilobites first appeared in the fossil record, they were already highly diversified and geographically dispersed. Because trilobites had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artiopoda
The Artiopoda is a grouping of extinct arthropods that includes trilobites and their close relatives. It was erected by Hou and Bergström in 1997 to encompass a wide diversity of arthropods that would traditionally have been assigned to the Trilobitomorpha. Hou and Bergström used the name Lamellipedia as a superclass to replace Trilobitomorpha that was originally erected at the subphylum level, which they considered inappropriate. Trilobites, in part due to their mineralising exoskeletons, are by far the most diverse and long lived members of the clade, with most records of other members, which lack mineralised exoskeletons, being from Cambrian deposits. Description According to Stein and Selden (2012) artiopods are recognised by the possession of filiform antennulae, limbs with bilobate exopods, with the proximal lobe being elongate and bearing a lamella, while the distal lobe is paddle-shaped and setiforous (bearing hair-or bristle like structures). The limb endopod has se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bradoriida
Bradoriids are an extinct order of small marine arthropods with a bivalved carapace, and were globally distributed, forming a significant portion of the Cambrian and Early Ordovician soft-bodied communities. Affinity Whilst the Bradoriida were traditionally considered as relatives of the modern bivalved arthropod group Ostracoda, the anatomy of their appendages does not support such a relationship; neither are they related to the Cambrian bivalved arthropod group Phosphatocopida. Rather, they are most probably related to the Eucrustacea at a stem-group level. An in-depth phylogenetic analysis of Panarthropoda included two bradoriid genera, '' Kunyangella'' and ''Kunmingella'', and recovered them as the most basal stem- mandibulates. Occurrence Bradoriida are geographically widespread, and first occur in the fossil record shortly before the earliest trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fuxianhuiida
Fuxianhuiida is an extinct clade of arthropods from the Cambrian of China. All currently known species are from Cambrian Series 2 aged deposits in Yunnan Province, including the Chengjiang biota. They are generally considered to be close to the base of Euarthropoda, but have also been considered to be early mandibulates. Many specimens are known with exceptional soft tissue preservation, including preserved guts and neural tissue, which given their basal phylogenetic position makes them important in understanding the evolution of arthropoda as a whole. They reach a size of up to 15 cm, and are interpreted as benthic predators and scavengers. The fuxianhuiid exoskeleton is unmineralised, and the number of tergites ranges from 15 to over 40. The cephalon is covered by a head shield and contains stalked eyes connected by the anterior sclerite, antennae, a butterfly shaped hyposome and a posterior facing mouth. Fuxianhuiids possess specialized post-antennal appendages with se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiisortoqia
''Kiisortoqia soperi'' is an extinct species of arthropod from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte in Greenland. While it had a superficially trilobite-like bodyform, it also possessed large frontal appendages similar to those of radiodonts. Description The body of ''K. soperi'' consisted of a simple head shield, 16 trunk segments (tergites) and a tail plate. In outward appearance the body is almost elliptical, about twice as long as wide, with the widest point in the front third of the body at the 3rd to 5th tergite. The head plate was simple, convex in shape, wider than long, and represented about 20% of the total body length. The tergites were short, about five times as wide as long, and the rear edge of each tergite overlapped the following by about a fifth of its length. The tergites 1–5 all had about the same width, the following tergites becoming narrower towards the posterior end of the animal. In the middle of the tergites an axis can be clearly seen, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megacheira
Megacheira ("great hands") is an extinct class of predatory arthropods that possessed a pair of great appendages, hence the class name as well as the common name "great appendage arthropods". Their taxonomic position is controversial, with studies either considering them stem-group euarthropods, or stem-group chelicerates. Most of them were found in marine environments throughout the world from the lower to middle Cambrian. Megacheirans were important components of several faunas, including the Burgess, Wheeler and Maotianshan Shales Lagerstatten. Homology of great appendages The homology between megacheiran great appendages and cephalic appendages of other arthropods had been discussed for decades. There is controversy over whether they are homologous to both dinocaridid (radiodonts and gilled lobopodians) frontal appendages, the frontalmost appendages of ''Isoxys'' and chelicerates' chelicerae. Based on neuroanatomical evidences, many studies support their homology to ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kylinxia
''Kylinxia'' is a genus of extinct arthropod described in 2020. It was described from six specimens discovered in Yu'anshan Formation (Maotianshan Shales) in southern China. The specimens are assigned to one species ''Kylinxia zhangi.'' Dated to 518 million years, the fossils falls under the Cambrian period. Announcing the discovery on 4 November 2020 at a press conference, Zeng Han of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, said that the animal "bridges the evolutionary gap from ''Anomalocaris'' to true arthropods and forms a key ‘ missing link’ in the origin of arthropods," which was "predicted by Darwin’s evolutionary theory." The same day the formal description was published in ''Nature''. Discovery ''Kylinxia zhangi'' was discovered among the Maotianshan Shales from Yu'anshan Formation at Yunnan in southern China in 2019. Zeng Han, Zhao Fangchen, and Huang Diying of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, made the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fengzhengia
''Fengzhengia'' is an extinct genus of arthropod known from a single species, ''Fengzhengia mamingae'' from the Cambrian aged Chengjiang Biota of Yunnan, China. It is thought to be a basal arthropod, as one of the most basal members of Deuteropoda. Like other basal deuteropods such as ''Kylinxia'', ''Fengzhengia'' has an upward curling pair of "frontal appendages", contrasting with the downward curving pair of frontal appendages possessed by radiodonts. The head has a pair of stalked eyes. The trunk had 15 tergites the first nine of which had upward facing spines, with the trunk terminating with a tail fan. The trunk seemingly had pairs of biramous limbs, with paddle-shaped exopod The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, plur ...s. It is thought to have been nektobenthic (swimmin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erratus
''Erratus'' is an extinct genus of marine arthropod from the Cambrian of China. Its type and only species is ''Erratus sperare''. ''Erratus'' is likely one of the most basal known arthropods, and its discovery has helped scientists understand the early evolution of arthropod trunk appendages. Some of the stem-arthropods like radiodonts did not have legs, instead they had flap like appendages that helped them swim. ''Erratus'' on the other hand had not only flaps but also a set of primitive legs. It also supported the theory that the gills of aquatic arthropods probably evolved into the wings and lungs of terrestrial arthropods later in the Paleozoic. Fossils of ''Erratus'' have been found in the Chengjiang Lagerstätte of China, dating to around 520 million years ago. ''Erratus'' was a small, nektonic organism with a bivalved carapace that probably ate by deposit feeding or filter feeding. History of study The holotype consists of specimens XDBZ101 and XDBZ102. The paratype spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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