The Cambrian origin of the circulatory system of crustaceans

The carapace of Recent crustaceans such as myodocope ostracodes and phyllocarids is pervaded with well-developed anastomosing sinuses conveying hemolymph from the metabolizing organs to the dorsal heart. The inner lamella cuticle, which separates the sinuses from seawater, is thin enough to allow gaseous diffusion (e.g., O₂ uptake) over its surface. Comparable radiating and/or anastomosing features, of possible vascular origin, are herein recognized in several possible Crustacea from the Cambrian: cambriid, svealutiid, hipponicharionid and beyrichonid Bradoriida and in Carnarvonia from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. The vascular network is basically the same in these groups, consisting of sinuses radiating from supposed adductorial areas or from inferred areas of dorsal attachment of the body. The integumental (carapace sinuses) and branchial (gills) systems of respiration in crustaceans and crustacean-like animals were probably already differentiated by the middle Cambrian. The oldest record of probable integumental circulation is in the bradoriid Petrianna from the early Cambrian of Greenland. Similar circulatory systems may be represented by radiating ridges on the cephalon of other Cambrian arthropod groups such as the arachnomorphs ( Burgessia ) and trilobites ( Naraioa ) and may also be manifest in the carapaces of Ordovician-Devonian leperditicope ostracodes. Organs on the thoracopods of Cambrian supposed crustaceans, such as Canadaspis , resemble the foliaceous thoracic gills of Recent nebaliid phyllocarids and therefore may have served the same (respiratory) function.     

Unlocking the early fossil record of the arthropod central nervous system

Extant panarthropods (euarthropods, onychophorans and tardigrades) are hallmarked by stunning morphological and taxonomic diversity, but their central nervous systems (CNS) are relatively conserved. The timing of divergences of the ground pattern CNS organization of the major panarthropod clades has been poorly constrained because of a scarcity of data from their early fossil record. Although the CNS has been documented in three-dimensional detail in insects from Cenozoic ambers, it is widely assumed that these tissues are too prone to decay to withstand other styles of fossilization or geologically older preservation. However, Cambrian Burgess Shale-type compressions have emerged as sources of fossilized brains and nerve cords. CNS in these Cambrian fossils are preserved as carbon films or as iron oxides/hydroxides after pyrite in association with carbon. Experiments with carcasses compacted in fine-grained sediment depict preservation of neural tissue for a more prolonged temporal window than anticipated by decay experiments in other media. CNS and compound eye characters in exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils predict divergences of the mandibulate and chelicerate ground patterns by Cambrian Stage 3 (ca 518 Ma), a dating that is compatible with molecular estimates for these splits.     

Cambrian lobopodians–ancestors of extant onychophorans?

This paper is a review of published information on fossil lobopodians, with addition of observations and ideas based on new material. It is also an analysis of the phytogeny of the group, and presents a new classification. A character shared by three or four families, yet not seen before, is a pair of enlarged sclerites covering the head. This forms an argument for re-orienting Hallucigenia once again. This genus no longer being enigmatic, a corner-stone in Stephen Jay Gould's evidence for extinct phyla is therefore gone. It is suggested that the lobopodians, phylum Lobopodia, are arranged in two classes, the extinct Xenusia for marine forms, and the Onychophora for terrestrial forms. The marine lobopodians are morphologically much more diverse than the extant onychophorans, a condition expressed in the classification. New taxa are: Hallucigenia fortis sp. nov., the families Luolishaniidae, Cardiodictyidae and Onychodictyidae, and the new orders Archonychophora, Scleronychophora and Paronychophora.     

澄江生物群中的卵形川滇虫(英文)

近年来在云南昆明附近的海口镇和大板桥地区发现大量的节肢动物卵形川滇虫化石,这些化石隶属于澄江生物群,其所处的地层是下寒武统玉案山组。卵形川滇虫化石的不断发掘使得对该属种化石的研究和认识能在很大程度上取得新的进展。文章基于相当数量化石的信息统计,首先对化石保存的多种方式进行总结并分析其埋藏时的环境条件,其次分析卵形川滇虫一些有趣的生活习性并初步划分卵形川滇虫生长中历经3次蜕皮的发育阶段;对雌雄性个体特征(包括外部形态和内部器官的解剖)进行对照性描述。文中揭示卵形川滇虫的生活环境及运动方式,并将卵形川滇虫与中寒武世瓦普塔虾进行较为详尽的比较,列举两者不可归为一属的可靠证据。     

Evolution of identified arthropod neurons: the serotonergic system in relation to engrailed-expressing cells in the embryonic ventral nerve cord of the american lobster homarus americanus milne edwards, 1873 (malacostraca,pleocyemata, homarida)

One of the long-standing questions in zoology is that on the phylogenetic relationships within the Arthropoda. Comparative studies on structure and development of the nervous system can contribute important arguments to this discussion. In the present report, the arrangement of serotonin- and engrailed-expressing cells was examined in the embryonic ventral nerve cord of the American lobster Homarus americanus Milne Edwards, 1873 (Malacostraca, Pleocyemata, Homarida), and the spatial relationship of these two cell classes was explored by a double-labelling approach. The goal of this study was to determine whether the lobster serotonergic neurons are homologous to similar cells present in representatives of the Hexapoda and other Arthropoda. The results indicate that, in fact, these neurons in the lobster ventral nerve cord have corresponding counterparts in many other mandibulate taxa. Based on the finding of these homologies, the arrangement of serotonergic neurons in a model trunk ganglion of the mandibulate ground pattern was reconstructed as comprising an anterior and a posterior pair of serotonergic neurons per hemiganglion, each cell with both an ipsilateral and a contralateral neurite. Starting from this ground pattern, the evolutionary diversification of this class of neurons within the Mandibulata is discussed.     

澄江生物群中的卵形川滇虫

近年来在云南昆明附近的海口镇和大板桥地区发现大量的节肢动物卵形川滇虫化石,这些化石隶属于澄江生物群,其所处的地层是下寒武统玉案山组。卵形川滇虫化石的不断发掘使得对该属种化石的研究和认识能在很大程度上取得新的进展。文章基于相当数量化石的信息统计,首先对化石保存的多种方式进行总结并分析其埋藏时的环境条件,其次分析卵形川滇虫一些有趣的生活习性并初步划分卵形川滇虫生长中历经3次蜕皮的发育阶段;对雌雄性个体特征（包括外部形态和内部器官的解剖）进行对照性描述。文中揭示卵形川滇虫的生活环境及运动方式,并将卵形川滇虫与中寒武世瓦普塔虾进行较为详尽的比较,列举两者不可归为一属的可靠证据。     

拟浒苔在澄江生物群中的发现及其生态学意义

报道了早寒武世澄江生物群中的一种新的化石藻类－肠拟浒苔（Enteromophites intestinalis sp.nov）,丰富了对该时期生物多样性的认识,通过现生浒苔属和石拟苔属藻类形态学的研究表明,这两个属在系统演化上可能有密切的亲缘关系,并阐述了澄江生物群可能发生了一个海水环境。     

有关节肢动物系统发育若干问题的研究进展

近年来对节肢动物系统发育问题的认识有了相当大的变化,尤其是支序分析研究方法的使用,以及来自分子系统学和分子发育生物学的证据,成为继比较形态学之后有力的研究手段,近年来的研究显示线虫,缓步类和有爪类是节肢动物的近缘类群,而非以前绝大多数学者所认为的软体动物的环节动物,对于节肢动物门的单系性及其内部类群间关系的问题,目前倾向于认为（1）节肢动物为单系群;（2）由甲壳类,六足类和多足类联合形成单系群－具颚类;（3）与六足类分子系统学两方面研究的支持;对第3点的争议虽较大,但就论据而言确为优势观点。     

云南早寒武世澄江动物群稀有节肢动物新材料

描述3块新的标本,分别是节肢动物Pisinnocaris sp．,Tanglangia longicaudata Luo et Hu,1999和Pygmaclypeatus daziensis Zhang,Han et Shu,2000。新的标本进一步增进我们对其形态结构特征的了解。通过与相关属种的比较,简要讨论其系统位置问题。