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- Title
The ontogeny of the 300 million year old xiphosuran <italic>Euproops danae</italic> (Euchelicerata) and implications for resolving the <italic>Euproops</italic> species complex.
- Authors
Haug, Carolin; Rötzer, Marie A. I. N.
- Abstract
Xiphosurans have often been considered as archaic appearing cheliceratan arthropods, with a rich fossil record. We describe here parts of the post-embryonic ontogeny of the 300 million year old xiphosuran <italic>Euproops danae</italic> (Xiphosura sensu stricto, Euchelicerata), from the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte (Upper Carboniferous), USA. Recently, the ontogeny of a closely related species, <italic>Euproops</italic> sp. from the Upper Carboniferous Piesberg quarry, Osnabrück, Germany (informally called ‘Piesproops’), has been reconstructed. This analysis has drawn characters into question that were used to differentiate <italic>E. danae</italic> from another species occurring at the same time, <italic>Euproops rotundatus</italic> from the British Middle Coal Measures. More precisely, early post-embryonic stages of Piesproops resemble <italic>E. danae</italic>; later stages resemble <italic>E. rotundatus</italic>. Based on this earlier study, the here-described reinvestigation of <italic>E. danae</italic> has been performed as the ontogenetic sequence itself may yield more reliable characters for differentiating species of <italic>Euproops</italic>. We could identify eight different growth stages for <italic>E. danae</italic>. This ontogenetic sequence shows a comparable growth to that of Piesproops, but differs markedly in the development of the opisthosomal flange. This character may serve as a basis for reliably differentiating these species. Additionally, analysing the ontogeny of further species may offer the basis for identifying heterochronic shifts in the evolution of xiphosurans.
- Subjects
XIPHOSURA; ONTOGENY; SPECIES diversity; FOSSILS; HETEROCHRONY (Biology)
- Publication
Development Genes & Evolution, 2018, Vol 228, Issue 1, p63
- ISSN
0949-944X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00427-018-0604-0