Cargando…
Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites
Fossilised arthropod compound eyes have frequently been described. Among the oldest known are those from the lower Cambrian of the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (China, c 525 Ma). All these compound eyes, though often excellently preserved, however, represent just the outer shells, because soft tissues, or...
Autores principales: | , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group
2013
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596982/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23492459 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01429 |
_version_ | 1782262583954243584 |
---|---|
author | Schoenemann, Brigitte Clarkson, Euan N. K. |
author_facet | Schoenemann, Brigitte Clarkson, Euan N. K. |
author_sort | Schoenemann, Brigitte |
collection | PubMed |
description | Fossilised arthropod compound eyes have frequently been described. Among the oldest known are those from the lower Cambrian of the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (China, c 525 Ma). All these compound eyes, though often excellently preserved, however, represent just the outer shells, because soft tissues, or even individual cells, usually do not fossilise. Using modern techniques, including μct-scanning and synchrotron radiation analysis we present the discovery of the sensory cell system of compound eyes, belonging to trilobites around 400 million years old, which allows their description and analysis. They are interpreted as forming part of an apposition-like ommatidium, which is a basic functional type of compound eye present in arthropods of today. Considered in greater detail, it is similar to the compound eye of the horseshoe crab Limulus, generally regarded as a ‘living fossil’, which probably retained this ancient basal system successfully until today. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3596982 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-35969822013-03-14 Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites Schoenemann, Brigitte Clarkson, Euan N. K. Sci Rep Article Fossilised arthropod compound eyes have frequently been described. Among the oldest known are those from the lower Cambrian of the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (China, c 525 Ma). All these compound eyes, though often excellently preserved, however, represent just the outer shells, because soft tissues, or even individual cells, usually do not fossilise. Using modern techniques, including μct-scanning and synchrotron radiation analysis we present the discovery of the sensory cell system of compound eyes, belonging to trilobites around 400 million years old, which allows their description and analysis. They are interpreted as forming part of an apposition-like ommatidium, which is a basic functional type of compound eye present in arthropods of today. Considered in greater detail, it is similar to the compound eye of the horseshoe crab Limulus, generally regarded as a ‘living fossil’, which probably retained this ancient basal system successfully until today. Nature Publishing Group 2013-03-14 /pmc/articles/PMC3596982/ /pubmed/23492459 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01429 Text en Copyright © 2013, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ |
spellingShingle | Article Schoenemann, Brigitte Clarkson, Euan N. K. Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites |
title | Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites |
title_full | Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites |
title_fullStr | Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites |
title_full_unstemmed | Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites |
title_short | Discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites |
title_sort | discovery of some 400 million year-old sensory structures in the compound eyes of trilobites |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596982/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23492459 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01429 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT schoenemannbrigitte discoveryofsome400millionyearoldsensorystructuresinthecompoundeyesoftrilobites AT clarksoneuannk discoveryofsome400millionyearoldsensorystructuresinthecompoundeyesoftrilobites |