Morphological-phylogenetic analysis of book lungs of Recent and fossil Arachnida I
Abstract
In this interdisciplinary project we study the fine structure of book lungs of scorpions and tetrapulmonates using modern morphological techniques (light and fluorescence microscopy, histology with plastic embedding, SEM, TEM, and computer aided 3-D reconstructions). We concentrate on the identification of new characters for the analysis of the phylogeny within scorpions and the position of this group within the Chelicerata. We also analyse the structure of the book lungs of spiders and of the lesser studied Uropygi (whip scorpions) and Ambyipygi (whip spiders). A special focus is formed by the investigation of preserved book lungs of fossil arachnids such as Trigonotarbida and scorpions. We aim to gain results which shed new light on the question of whether the, after hexapods, evolutionarily most successful terrestrial arthropod group invaded land only once or several times.
Principal investigators
Financer
DFG Individual Research Grant
Duration of project
Start date: 04/2006
End date: 04/2010
Website
Publications
Scholtz, G. and Kamenz, C. (2006) " The book lungs of Scorpiones and Tetrapulmonata (Chelicerata, Arachnida): Evidence for homology and a single terrestrialisation event of a common arachnid ancestor" Zoology 109, 2-13
Kamenz, C. Dunlop, J. A. and Scholtz, G. (2005) "Characters in the book lungs of Scorpiones (Chelicerata, Arachnida) revealed by scanning electron microscopy" Zoomorphology 124, 101-109
