1st Edition

Crustacea and Arthropod Relationships

Edited By Stefan Koenemann, Ronald Jenner Copyright 2005
    440 Pages
    by CRC Press

    440 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Compared to other arthropods, crustaceans are characterized by an unparalleled disparity of body plans. Traditionally, the specialization of arthropod segments and appendages into distinct body regions has served as a convenient basis for higher classification; however, many relationships within the phylum Arthropoda still remain controversial.

    Can Crustacea even be considered a monophyletic group?
    If so, then which are their closest relatives within the Arthropoda?

    The answers to questions such as these will play a key role in understanding patterns and processes in arthropod evolution, including the disappearance of certain body plans from the fossil record, as well as incidences of transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments.

    Crustacea and Arthropod Relationships, written by a team of internationally recognized experts, presents a wide variety of viewpoints, while offering an up-to-date summary of recent progress across several disciplines. With rich detail and vibrancy, it addresses the evolution and phylogenetic relationships of the Arthropoda based upon molecular, developmental, morphological, and paleontological evidence.

    Volume 16 is the first in the series to not be exclusively dedicated to discussions specific to crustaceans. While it is still crustaceo-centric, the focus of this volume has been extended to include other groups of arthropods along with the Crustacea. This wider focus offers challenging opportunities to evaluate higher-level relationships within the Arthropoda from a carcinologic perspective.

    This volume is dedicated to the career of Frederick R. Schram, the founding editor of CrustaceanIssues in 1983, in recognition of his many stimulating and wide-ranging contributions to the evolutionary biology of arthropods in general, and of crustaceans in particular.

    Decapoda, the K/P-event, and the Palaeocene recovery. Oelandocaris oelandica Müller, 1983, and its significance to re-solving the stemlineage of Crustacea. Evolution of eye structure and arthropod phylogeny. Appendage loss and regeneration in arthropods: A comparative view. Resolving arthropod relation-ships: insights from evo-devo studies. Heads, Hox and the position of trilobites. Relationships between hexapods and crustaceans based on mitochondrial genomics. Comparative morphology and relationships of the Agnostida. Relationships between insect and crustaceans based on 18S rDNA.
    Gould, Schram, and the palaeontological perspective in Zoology. The position of crustaceans within the Arthropoda - evidence from nine molecular loci and morphology. Playing another round of metazoan phylogenetics: historical epistemology, sensitivity analysis, and the position of Arthropoda within the Metazoa on the basis of morphology. Early Palaeozoic non-lamellipedian arthropods. What are ostracods?

    Biography

    Stefan Koenemann, Ronald A. Jenner