Origin of raptorial feeding in juvenile euarthropods revealed by a Cambrian radiodontan

Title
Origin of raptorial feeding in juvenile euarthropods revealed by a Cambrian radiodontan
Publication Date
2018-11
Author(s)
Liu, Jianni
Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2256-1872
Email: rlerosey@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:rlerosey
Steiner, Michael
Dunlop, Jason A
Shu, Degan
Paterson, John R
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2947-3912
Email: jpater20@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:jpater20
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1093/nsr/nwy057
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/27124
Abstract
The rapid rise of arthropods during the Cambrian quickly established some clades, such as the euarthropod stem-group called Radiodonta, as the dominant and most diverse predators in marine ecosystems. Recent discoveries have shown that the size and dietary ecology of radiodontans are far more diverse than previously thought, but little is known about the feeding habits of juveniles. Here, we document a very small (~18-mm-long), near-complete specimen of the radiodontan Lyrarapax unguispinus from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Biota of China. This specimen is the smallest radiodontan individual known, representing a juvenile instar. Its adult-like morphology-especially the fully developed spinose frontal appendages and tetraradial oral cone-indicates that L. unguispinus was a well-equipped predator at an early developmental stage, similar to modern raptorial euarthropods, such as mantises, mantis shrimps and arachnids. This evidence, coupled with the basal phylogenetic position of radiodontans, confirms that raptorial feeding habits in juvenile euarthropods appeared early in the evolutionary history of the group.
Link
Citation
National Science Review, 5(6), p. 863-869
ISSN
2053-714X
2095-5138
Start page
863
End page
869

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