Three-dimensional visualization as a tool for interpreting locomotion strategies in ophiuroids from the Devonian Hunsruck Slate.

ABSTRACT: Living brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) employ a very different locomotion strategy to that of any other metazoan: five or more arms coordinate powerful strides for rapid movement across the ocean floor. This mode of locomotion is reliant on the unique morphology and arrangement of multifaceted skeletal elements and associated muscles and other soft tissues. The skeleton of many Palaeozoic ophiuroids differs markedly from that in living forms, making it difficult to infer their mode of locomotion and, therefore, to resolve the evolutionary history of locomotion in the group. Here, we present three-dimensional digital renderings of specimens of six ophiuroid taxa from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate: four displaying the arm structure typical of Palaeozoic taxa (Encrinaster ro

SUBMITTER: Clark EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7813258 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature