Premium
Molting polychaete jaws—ecdysozoans are not the only molting animals
Author(s) -
Paxton Hannelore
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
evolution and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1525-142X
pISSN - 1520-541X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-142x.2005.05039.x
Subject(s) - moulting , ecdysis , biology , polychaete , synapomorphy , zoology , arthropod , evolutionary biology , anatomy , ecology , phylogenetics , genetics , gene , clade , larva
Summary Jaw shedding and replacement of Diopatra aciculata (Onuphidae, Eunicida), by the same process as arthropod molting, involving apolysis and ecdysis, is described here. These observations suggest that molting has either evolved convergently in eunicidan polychaetes and ecdysozoans or it was present in the last ecdysozoan/lophotrochozoan common ancestor and thus may not represent a synapomorphy of the ecdysozoans.