Preservation of neural tissue in early Cambrian arthropods has recently been demonstrated, to a degree that segmental structures of the head can be associated with individual brain neuromeres. This association provides novel data for addressing long-standing controversies about the segmental identities of specialized head appendages in fossil taxa. Here we document neuroanatomy in the head and trunk of a 'great appendage' arthropod, Alalcomenaeus sp., from the Chengjiang biota, southwest China, providing the most complete neuroanatomical profile known from a Cambrian animal. Micro-computed tomography reveals a configuration of one optic neuropil separate from a protocerebrum contiguous with four head ganglia, succeeded by eight contiguous ganglia in an eleven-segment trunk. Arrangements of optic neuropils, the brain and ganglia correspond most closely to the nervous system of Chelicerata of all extant arthropods, supporting the assignment of 'great appendage' arthropods to the chelicerate total group. The position of the deutocerebral neuromere aligns with the insertion of the great appendage, indicating its deutocerebral innervation and corroborating a homology between the 'great appendage' and chelicera indicated by morphological similarities. Alalcomenaeus and Fuxianhuia protensa demonstrate that the two main configurations of the brain observed in modern arthropods, those of Chelicerata and Mandibulata, respectively, had evolved by the early Cambrian.

Ostracod crustaceans are the most abundant fossil arthropods and are characterized by a long stratigraphic range. However, their soft parts are very rarely preserved, and the presence of ostracods in rocks older than the Silurian period [1-5] was hitherto based on the occurrence of their supposed shells. Pyritized ostracods that preserve limbs and in situ embryos, including an egg within an ovary and possible hatched individuals, are here described from rocks of the Upper Ordovician Katian Stage Lorraine Group of New York State, including examples from the famous Beecher's Trilobite Bed [6, 7]. This discovery extends our knowledge of the paleobiology of ostracods by some 25 million years and provides the first unequivocal demonstration of ostracods in the Ordovician period, including the oldest known myodocope, Luprisca incuba gen. et sp. nov. It also provides conclusive evidence of a developmental brood-care strategy conserved within Ostracoda for at least 450 million years.

Heterometallic coordination compounds [Cu(II)(L)(C(3)H(6)O)Ln(III)(NO(3))(3)] and [V(IV)O(L)(C(3)H(6)O)Ln(III)(NO(3))(3)] (abbreviated as LnCu and LnV, respectively; H(2)L = N,N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)-1,3-diamino-2,2-dimethylpropane; Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er) were synthesized, and the X-ray crystallographic analysis shows that their structures are isomorphous for each series. The single-molecule magnet behavior was observed for TbCu and DyCu, and the activation energies of magnetization reversal were 42.3(4) and 11.5(10) K, respectively. The magnetic exchange couplings in LnCu and LnV were precisely evaluated by means of combined high-frequency EPR and pulsed-field magnetization studies, to give J(Tb-Cu)/k(B)≥ 3.3 K, J(Dy-Cu)/k(B) = 1.63(1) K, J(Ho-Cu)/k(B) = 1.09(2) K, and J(Er-Cu)/k(B) = 0.24(1) K. A monotonic decrease of ferromagnetic J(Ln-Cu) was found in the order of the atomic number, (64)Gd to (68)Er. The corresponding exchange parameters in LnV are smaller than those of the Cu derivatives, and J(Gd-V) was antiferromagnetic (-3.0 K determined from the magnetization jump). A possible mechanism for the exchange coupling and chemical trend is discussed.

3

The 4f-3d exchange couplings were definitively and precisely determined in the dinuclear complexes (Ln-M) involving double μ-oxo-bridges, by means of combined high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance and pulsed-field magnetization techniques, revealing a monotonic decrease of ferromagnetic J(Ln-Cu) in the order of the atomic number, (64)Gd to (68)Er.

Conodont‐bearing Ordovician and Silurian rocks have a wide geographical distribution in Japan. They are exposed on Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu islands. Two recently studied samples from Gionyama, in Kyushu, yield conodont assemblages of Telychian (Distomodus sp., Apsidognathus sp. (cf. A. tuberculatus arcticus), Oulodus cf. rectangulus, Ozarkodina cf. waugoolaensis, Panderodus cf. amplicostatus) and probably the earliest Sheinwoodian (?Distomodus sp. (cf. D. staurognathoides), Ozarkodina sp., Oulodus sp., Walliserodus sp. (cf. Walliserodus sp. nov. c Männik), Panderodus sp.) ages, providing further biostratigraphical constraints for the age of the Gionyama Formation in the Kurosegawa Terrane. Most of the conodont taxa identified have wide paleobiogeographical distribution, but probable occurrence of Oulodus rectangulus, Ozarkodina waugoolaensis, and Panderodus amplicostatus suggests a relationship between Australia, the South China paleocontinent, and the Kurosegawa Terrane of ‘Proto‐Japan’ during the Silurian. These paleogeographic interpretations agree with the existing notions based on rugose corals.

No abstract

No abstract