BackgroundInvertebrate nervous systems are highly disparate between different taxa. This is reflected in the terminology used to describe them, which is very rich and often confusing. Even very general terms such as 'brain', 'nerve', and 'eye' have been used in various ways in the different animal groups, but no consensus on the exact meaning exists. This impedes our understanding of the architecture of the invertebrate nervous system in general and of evolutionary transformations of nervous system characters between different taxa.ResultsWe provide a glossary of invertebrate neuroanatomical terms with a precise and consistent terminology, taxon-independent and free of homology assumptions. This terminology is intended to form a basis for new morphological descriptions. A total of 47 terms are defined. Each entry consists of a definition, discouraged terms, and a background/comment section.ConclusionsThe use of our revised neuroanatomical terminology in any new descriptions of the anatomy of invertebrate nervous systems will improve the comparability of this organ system and its substructures between the various taxa, and finally even lead to better and more robust homology hypotheses.

BackgroundArthropod diversity is unparalleled in the animal kingdom. The study of ontogeny is pivotal to understand which developmental processes underlie the incredible morphological disparity of arthropods and thus to eventually unravel evolutionary transformations leading to their success. Work on laboratory model organisms has yielded in-depth data on numerous developmental mechanisms in arthropods. Yet, although the range of studied taxa has increased noticeably since the advent of comparative evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), several smaller groups remain understudied. This includes the bizarre Pycnogonida (sea spiders) or “no-bodies”, a taxon occupying a crucial phylogenetic position for the interpretation of arthropod development and evolution.ResultsPycnogonid development is variable at familial and generic levels and sometimes even congeneric species exhibit different developmental modes. Here, we summarize the available data since the late 19th century. We clarify and resolve terminological issues persisting in the pycnogonid literature and distinguish five developmental pathways, based on (1) type of the hatching stage, (2) developmental-morphological features during postembryonic development and (3) selected life history characteristics. Based on phylogenetic analyses and the fossil record, we discuss plausible plesiomorphic features of pycnogonid development that allow comparison to other arthropods. These features include (1) a holoblastic, irregular cleavage with equal-sized blastomeres, (2) initiation of gastrulation by a single bottle-shaped cell, (3) the lack of a morphologically distinct germ band during embryogenesis, (4) a parasitic free-living protonymphon larva as hatching stage and (5) a hemianamorphic development during the postlarval and juvenile phases. Further, we propose evolutionary developmental trajectories within crown-group Pycnogonida.ConclusionsA resurgence of studies on pycnogonid postembryonic development has provided various new insights in the last decades. However, the scarcity of modern-day embryonic data – including the virtual lack of gene expression and functional studies – needs to be addressed in future investigations to strengthen comparisons to other arthropods and arthropod outgroups in the framework of evo-devo. Our review may serve as a basis for an informed choice of target species for such studies, which will not only shed light on chelicerate development and evolution but furthermore hold the potential to contribute important insights into the anamorphic development of the arthropod ancestor.

Within the last decade, gene expression patterns and neuro-anatomical data have led to a new consensus concerning the long-debated association between anterior limbs and neuromeres in the arthropod head. According to this new view, the first appendage in all extant euarthropods is innervated by the second neuromere, the deutocerebrum, whereas the anterior-most head region bearing the protocerebrum lacks an appendage. This stands in contrast to the clearly protocerebrally targeted "antennae" of Onychophora and to some evidence for protocerebral limbs in fossil euarthropod representatives. Yet, the latter "frontal appendages" or "primary antennae" have most likely been reduced or lost in the lineage, leading to extant taxa. Surprisingly, a recent neuro-anatomical study on a pycnogonid challenged this evolutionary scenario, reporting a protocerebral innervation of the first appendages, the chelifores. However, this interpretation was soon after questioned by Hox gene expression data. To re-evaluate the unresolved controversy, we analyzed neuro-anatomy and neurogenesis in four pycnogonid species using immunohistochemical techniques. We clearly show the postprotocerebral innervation of the chelifores, which is resolved as the plesiomorphic condition in pycnogonids when evaluated against a recently published comprehensive phylogeny. By providing direct morphological support for the deutocerebral status of the cheliforal ganglia, we reconcile morphological and gene expression data and argue for a corresponding position between the anterior-most appendages in all extant euarthropods. Consequently, other structures have to be scrutinized to illuminate the fate of a presumptive protocerebral appendage in recent euarthropods. The labrum and the "frontal filaments" of some crustaceans are possible candidates for this approach.

Despite significant advances in invertebrate phylogenomics over the past decade, the higher-level phylogeny of Pycnogonida (sea spiders) remains elusive. Due to the inaccessibility of some small-bodied lineages, few phylogenetic studies have sampled all sea spider families. Previous efforts based on a handful of genes have yielded unstable tree topologies. Here, we inferred the relationships of 89 sea spider species using targeted capture of the mitochondrial genome, 56 conserved exons, 101 ultraconserved elements, and three nuclear ribosomal genes. We inferred molecular divergence times by integrating morphological data for fossil species to calibrate 15 nodes in the arthropod tree of life. This integration of data classes resolved the basal topology of sea spiders with high support. The enigmatic family Austrodecidae was resolved as the sister group to the remaining Pycnogonida and the small-bodied family Rhynchothoracidae as the sister group of the robust-bodied family Pycnogonidae. Molecular divergence time estimation recovered a basal divergence of crown group sea spiders in the Ordovician. Comparison of diversification dynamics with other marine invertebrate taxa that originated in the Paleozoic suggests that sea spiders and some crustacean groups exhibit resilience to mass extinction episodes, relative to mollusk and echinoderm lineages.