(Phys.org) —An unusual fossil fish that has fins behind its anus could have implications for human evolution according to a scientist at The University of Manchester.
Archaeology
Apr 10, 2013
2
2
Paleontologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto have entirely revisited a tiny yet exceptionally fierce ancient sea creature called Habelia optata that has confounded scientists ...
Archaeology
Dec 21, 2017
0
1397
(Phys.org) -- Most animals move around by using their appendages, such as legs, wings, or fins. But a few exceptional creatures employ rolling as a mode of locomotion. Included in this group are rolling salamanders, spiders, ...
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong put the first human footprint on the moon. But when did animals leave the first footprint on Earth?
Archaeology
Jun 6, 2018
0
148
Why did animals with limbs win the race to invade land over those with fins? A new study comparing the forces acting on fins of mudskipper fish and on the forelimbs of tiger salamanders can now be used to analyze early fossils ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 5, 2013
4
0
(Phys.org)—A small, translucent sea slug called Clione antarctica swims through the cold waters near the polar regions by flapping its wings. At the same time, tiny cilia that circle the sea slug's body in three bands may ...
(Phys.org) —Behavioral biologists at the University of Nebraska have found that male dark fishing spiders become immobile immediately after mating and die a short time later. In their paper published in the journal Biology ...
Research led by University of Arizona Regents' Professor Nick Strausfeld and London Natural History Museum's Greg Edgecombe has revealed that the ancestors of chelicerates (spiders, scorpions and their kin) branched off from ...
Archaeology
Oct 16, 2013
0
0
(Phys.org)—Because traditional robot hands or grippers were first created to assist in production type enterprises, e.g. to help build cars, etc., they have not been very good at working with soft materials. For that reason, ...
An extraordinary find allowing scientists to see through the head of the 'fuxianhuiid' arthropod has revealed one of the earliest evolutionary examples of limbs used for feeding, along with the oldest nervous system to stretch ...
Archaeology
Feb 27, 2013
5
0
In invertebrate biology, an appendage is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body (in verterbrate biology, an example would be a vertebrate's limbs). It is a general term that covers any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment. These include antennae, mouthparts (including mandibles, maxillae and maxillipeds), wings, elytra, gills, walking legs (pereiopods), swimming legs (pleopods), sexual organs (gonopods), and parts of the tail (uropods). Typically, each body segment carries one pair of appendages.
An appendage which is modified to assist in feeding is known as a maxilliped or gnathopod.
Appendages may be uniramous, as in insects and centipedes, where each appendage comprises a single series of segments, or it may be biramous, as in many crustaceans, where each appendage branches into two sections. Triramous (branching into three) appendages are also possible.
All arthropod appendages are variations of the same basic structure (homologous), and which structure is produced is controlled by "homeobox" genes. Changes to these genes have allowed scientists to produce animals (chiefly Drosophila melanogaster) with modified appendages, such as legs instead of antennae.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
