Convergent evolution of defensive appendages – a lithobiomorph-like centipede with a scolopendromorph-type ultimate leg from about 100 million-year-old amber
Abstract:Centipedes are predatory representatives of the group Myriapoda and important components of the soil and leaf-litter fauna. The first pair of trunk appendages is modified into venom-injecting maxillipeds in all centipedes. The number of trunk appendage pairs varies between the different groups of centipedes, from 15 pairs as apparently ancestral (plesiomorphic) condition, up to 191 pairs. The last pair of trunk legs can be used for different tasks in centipedes, e.g. mechano-sensation, defense, or stridulation… Show more
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