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- Title
A neurophylogenetic approach provides new insight to the evolution of Scaphopoda.
- Authors
Sumner‐Rooney, Lauren H.; Schrödl, Michael; Lodde‐Bensch, Eva; Lindberg, David R.; Heß, Martin; Brennan, Gerard P.; Sigwart, Julia D.
- Abstract
SUMMARY The position of scaphopods in molluscan phylogeny remains singularly contentious, with several sister relationships supported by morphological and phylogenomic data: Scaphopoda + Bivalvia (Diasoma), Scaphopoda + Cephalopoda (Variopoda), and Scaphopoda + Gastropoda. Nervous system architecture has contributed significant insights to reconstructing phylogeny in the Mollusca and other invertebrate groups, but a modern neurophylogenetic approach has not been applied to molluscs, hampered by a lack of clearly defined homologous characters that can be unequivocally compared across the radical body plan disparity among the living clades. We present the first three-dimensional reconstruction of the anterior nervous system of a scaphopod, Rhabdus rectius, using histological tomography. We also describe a new putative sensory organ, a paired and pigmented sensory mantle slit. This structure is restricted to our study species and not a general feature of scaphopods, but it forms an integral part of the description of the nervous system in R. rectius. It also highlights the potential utility of neuro-anatomical characters for multiple levels of phylogenetic inference beyond this study. This potential has not previously been exploited for the thorny problem of molluscan phylogeny. The neuroanatomy of scaphopods demonstrates a highly derived architecture that shares a number of key characters with the cephalopod nervous system, and supports a Scaphopoda + Cephalopoda grouping.
- Subjects
SCAPHOPODA; MOLLUSKS; BIVALVES; CEPHALOPODA; INVERTEBRATES
- Publication
Evolution & Development, 2015, Vol 17, Issue 6, p337
- ISSN
1520-541X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/ede.12164