Arthropods are among the most
successful animals on the planet. They inhabit the sea (horseshoe crabs), the
sky (fruit flies), and the earth (scorpions) in vast numbers and are defined by
their exoskeleton exteriors and segmented legs and bodies.
These adaptable, modular parts
may help explain why these animals are so well-suited to life on every corner
of the planet. Their jointed legs and partitioned bodies also help provide
clues into how they have evolved.
In a new study published March
26, 2018 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers Emily Setton and Prashant Sharma
show that the common house spider and its arachnid relatives have dispensed
with a gene involved in creating segmented heads, instead recycling leg genes to accomplish the task.
"We study spiders, scorpions
and others to help build a more complete evolutionary story and look at what's
going on in the complex world of arthropods," says Setton, who was an undergraduate
majoring in anthropology and biology when she completed the work as one of just
two study authors. "The world is a great, big place full of amazing
diversity. We want to know, how does this happen? How do you build an
animal?"
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