TY - JOUR A1 - Kamenz, C. A1 - Staude, Andreas A1 - Dunlop, J.A. T1 - Sperm carriers in silurian sea scorpions N2 - Invasion of the land by arachnids required adaptations of numerous organs, such as gills evolving into lungs, as well as mechanisms facilitating sperm transfer in a terrestrial environment. Many modern arachnids use spermatophores for this purpose, i.e. sperm transmitters detached from the body. Exceptionally preserved Silurian (423 Ma) fossils of Eurypterus tetragonophthalmus Fischer, 1839 (Chelicerata: Eurypterida) preserve so-called ‘horn organs’ which we here demonstrate as being equivalent to the spermatophore-producing parts of the genital tract in certain modern arachnids. This clarifies a long-running debate about sexing eurypterids based on the shape of the median abdominal (or genital) appendage. To our knowledge this is also the oldest direct evidence for spermatophoremediated sperm transfer in the fossil record and suggests that eurypterids had evolved mating techniques using spermatophores as early as the Silurian, a valuable prerequisite for life on land. Spermatophores are absent in sea spiders (Pycnogonida) and horseshoe crabs (Xiphosura); thus the shared presence of sclerotized sperm-transfer devices in eurypterids and arachnids is a novel character, newly elucidated here,which offers explicit support for (Eurypterida + Arachnida). For this clade the name Sclerophorata n. nov. is proposed. Arachnida can be further defined by fusion of the originally paired genital opening. KW - Fossil KW - Silurian KW - Eurypterida KW - Arachnida KW - Spermatophore KW - Evolution PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0841-9 SN - 0933-4793 VL - 98 IS - 10 SP - 889 EP - 896 PB - Schäuble CY - Rheinfelden AN - OPUS4-24552 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scholtz, G. A1 - Staude, Andreas A1 - Dunlop, J.A. T1 - Trilobite compound eyes with crystalline cones and rhabdoms show mandibulate affinities N2 - Most knowledge about the structure, function, and evolution of early compound eyes is based on investigations in trilobites. However, these studies dealt mainly with the cuticular lenses and little was known about internal anatomy. Only recently some data on crystalline cones and retinula cells were reported for a Cambrian trilobite species. Here, we describe internal eye structures of two other trilobite genera. The Ordovician Asaphus sp. reveals preserved crystalline cones situated underneath the cuticular lenses. The same is true for the Devonian species Archegonus (Waribole) warsteinensis, which in addition shows the fine structure of the rhabdom in the retinula cells. These results suggest that an apposition eye with a crystalline cone is ancestral for Trilobita. The overall similarity of trilobite eyes to those of myriapods, crustaceans, and hexapods corroborates views of a phylogenetic position of trilobites in the stem lineage of Mandibulata. KW - Trilobite compound eyes KW - Computed Tomography PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-510784 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10459-8 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 10 SP - 2503 PB - Nature AN - OPUS4-51078 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -