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Science 2 November 1990:
Vol. 250. no. 4981, pp. 667 - 669
DOI: 10.1126/science.250.4981.667
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Articles

The Origin of Crustacean Biramous Appendages and the Evolution of Arthropoda

Michael J. Emerson 1 and Frederick R. Schram 1

1 San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego, CA 92112

The evolution of biramous appendages in crustaceans is central to the debate on the origin of the arthropods. It is proposed that the biramous limb evolved through the basal fusion of adjacent pairs of ancestrally uniramous appendages. As a result, the existing system of homology, in which uniramous and biramous appendages are considered equivalent, may be invalid. Similarly, the homology of individual body segments between uniramians, such as insects and myriapods, and arthropod groups with biramous limbs is also called into question. Two uniramian segments, or a diplosegment, may be homologous to a single body segment in biramous groups.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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The Development of Crustacean Limbs and the Evolution of Arthropods.
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J. Ballard, G. Olsen, D. Faith, W. Odgers, D. Rowell, and P. Atkinson (1992)
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Innovative materials processing strategies: a biomimetic approach.
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Out on a Limb: Arthropod Origins.
R. K. Grosberg and R. K. Grosberg (1990)
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)