A rare lobopod with well-preserved eyes from Chengjiang Lagerstātte and its implications for origin of arthropods

The origin of arthropods has long been one ofthe most hotly-debated subjects. Arthropods used to bethought closely related with annelids, but the two groups arenow believed to be separated into two major realms withinProtostomia on the basis of new molecular data. Although itis generally held by paleontologists that arthropods should berooted in the early lobopods-.a kind of worm-like creaturewith non-segmented legs, no intermediate forms have beenfound to bridge them. Here we report an organism with amixture of characters, including features characteristic ofarthropods (e.g., primary cephalization with paired eyes,paired antennae, and preliminary tagmosis) and of lobopods(e.g., worm-like body design, the dorsal spines, andnon-segmented limbs or lobe-like legs). The discovery of therare transitional form may throw new light on the origin ofarthropods and suggests that the most primitive arthropodsbegan with paired uniramous legs and the biramous onesevolved later.