Unravelling the origin of the basket stars and their allies (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea, Euryalida).

ABSTRACT: Euryalids, which include the spectacular basket stars, form a morphologically aberrant group of brittle stars. Surprisingly, the most recent molecular work found them to be sister to ophiurid brittle stars, thus challenging the traditional dichotomy between euryalids and non-euryalids, and leaving an enormous ghost lineage of more than 100 million years between the oldest unambiguous euryalid fossils and their predicted divergence from ophiurids during the Triassic. Here we examine both previously known and newly collected fossils to explore the evolutionary history of euryalids. A morphology-based phylogenetic estimate confirms the Triassic Aspiduriella as a basal member of the euryalid clade that superficially resembles members of the living ophiurid sister clades. Furthermore, we use la

SUBMITTER: Thuy B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5981468 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature