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The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability

The arthropodium is the key innovation of arthropods. Its various modifications are the outcome of multiple evolutionary transformations, and the foundation of nearly endless functional possibilities. In contrast to hexapods, crustaceans, and even chelicerates, the spectrum of evolutionary transform...

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Autores principales: Kenning, Matthes, Müller, Carsten H.G., Sombke, Andy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5691793/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29158971
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4023
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author Kenning, Matthes
Müller, Carsten H.G.
Sombke, Andy
author_facet Kenning, Matthes
Müller, Carsten H.G.
Sombke, Andy
author_sort Kenning, Matthes
collection PubMed
description The arthropodium is the key innovation of arthropods. Its various modifications are the outcome of multiple evolutionary transformations, and the foundation of nearly endless functional possibilities. In contrast to hexapods, crustaceans, and even chelicerates, the spectrum of evolutionary transformations of myriapod arthropodia is insufficiently documented and rarely scrutinized. Among Myriapoda, Chilopoda (centipedes) are characterized by their venomous forcipules—evolutionarily transformed walking legs of the first trunk segment. In addition, the posterior end of the centipedes’ body, in particular the ultimate legs, exhibits a remarkable morphological heterogeneity. Not participating in locomotion, they hold a vast functional diversity. In many centipede species, elongation and annulation in combination with an augmentation of sensory structures indicates a functional shift towards a sensory appendage. In other species, thickening, widening and reinforcement with a multitude of cuticular protuberances and glandular systems suggests a role in both attack and defense. Moreover, sexual dimorphic characteristics indicate that centipede ultimate legs play a pivotal role in intraspecific communication, mate finding and courtship behavior. We address ambiguous identifications and designations of podomeres in order to point out controversial aspects of homology and homonymy. We provide a broad summary of descriptions, illustrations, ideas and observations published in past 160 years, and propose that studying centipede ultimate legs is not only essential in itself for filling gaps of knowledge in descriptive morphology, but also provides an opportunity to explore diverse pathways of leg transformations within Myriapoda.
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spelling pubmed-56917932017-11-20 The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability Kenning, Matthes Müller, Carsten H.G. Sombke, Andy PeerJ Animal Behavior The arthropodium is the key innovation of arthropods. Its various modifications are the outcome of multiple evolutionary transformations, and the foundation of nearly endless functional possibilities. In contrast to hexapods, crustaceans, and even chelicerates, the spectrum of evolutionary transformations of myriapod arthropodia is insufficiently documented and rarely scrutinized. Among Myriapoda, Chilopoda (centipedes) are characterized by their venomous forcipules—evolutionarily transformed walking legs of the first trunk segment. In addition, the posterior end of the centipedes’ body, in particular the ultimate legs, exhibits a remarkable morphological heterogeneity. Not participating in locomotion, they hold a vast functional diversity. In many centipede species, elongation and annulation in combination with an augmentation of sensory structures indicates a functional shift towards a sensory appendage. In other species, thickening, widening and reinforcement with a multitude of cuticular protuberances and glandular systems suggests a role in both attack and defense. Moreover, sexual dimorphic characteristics indicate that centipede ultimate legs play a pivotal role in intraspecific communication, mate finding and courtship behavior. We address ambiguous identifications and designations of podomeres in order to point out controversial aspects of homology and homonymy. We provide a broad summary of descriptions, illustrations, ideas and observations published in past 160 years, and propose that studying centipede ultimate legs is not only essential in itself for filling gaps of knowledge in descriptive morphology, but also provides an opportunity to explore diverse pathways of leg transformations within Myriapoda. PeerJ Inc. 2017-11-14 /pmc/articles/PMC5691793/ /pubmed/29158971 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4023 Text en ©2017 Kenning et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Animal Behavior
Kenning, Matthes
Müller, Carsten H.G.
Sombke, Andy
The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability
title The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability
title_full The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability
title_fullStr The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability
title_full_unstemmed The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability
title_short The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability
title_sort ultimate legs of chilopoda (myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability
topic Animal Behavior
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5691793/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29158971
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4023
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