Megadictyon

Last updated

Megadictyon
Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3
20191118 Megadictyon cf. haikouensis.png
Reconstruction of Megadictyon cf. haikouensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Lobopodia
Class:
†Xenusia
Order:
†Siberiida
Family:
†Siberiidae
Genus:
†Megadictyon

Luo & Hu, 1999
Species:
†M. haikouensis
Binomial name
†Megadictyon haikouensis
Luo & Hu, 1999

Megadictyon is a genus of Cambrian lobopodian with similarities to Jianshanopodia and Siberion . The name of the genus is occasionally mis-spelt as Magadictyon. [1]

Contents

Description

Megadictyon is a large lobopodian, with a body length (excluding appendages) possibly up to 20 centimeters in total. [2] The head has a pair of robust frontal appendages [3] associated with rows of spines and terminal claws. [2] Located on the underside of the head is a radiodont-like mouthpart formed by multiple layers of plates and tooth-like structures. [2] The trunk is wide and annulated, with a pair of well-developed lobopodous limbs on each body segment. Only 8 segment/limb pairs are countable in the incomplete fossil materials which are lacking the posterior region, so it may have had more (possibly up to 11 to 13) in nature. [2] It also has pairs of digestive glands similar to those of basal arthropods. [2] [4]

Phylogeny

Phylogenetic position of Megadictyon according to Pates et al. (2022). [5]

References

  1. ↑ "Corrigendum" . Acta Zoologica. 89 (2): 183. 2007. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6395.2007.00307.x.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Liu, J.-N.; Shu, D.-G.; Han, J.; Zhang, Z.-F.; Zhang, X.-L. (2007). "Morpho-anatomy of the lobopod Magadictyon cf. haikouensis from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte, South China". Acta Zoologica. 88 (4): 279–288. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6395.2007.00281.x.
  3. ↑ Liu, J.-N.; Shu, D.-G.; Han, J.; Zhang, Z.-F.; Zhang, X. (2008). "Origin, diversification, and relationships of Cambrian lobopods". Gondwana Research. 14 (1–2): 277–283. Bibcode:2008GondR..14..277L. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2007.10.001.
  4. ↑ Vannier, Jean; Liu, Jianni; Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy; Vinther, Jakob; Daley, Allison C (2014). "Sophisticated digestive systems in early arthropods". Nature Communications. 5: 3641. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.3641V. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4641 . PMID   24785191.
  5. ↑ Pates, Stephen; Wolfe, Joanna M.; Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy; Daley, Allison C.; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (2022-02-09). "New opabiniid diversifies the weirdest wonders of the euarthropod stem group". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 289 (1968). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2093 . PMC   8826304 . PMID   35135344.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.