Breaking the ladder: Evolution of the ventral nerve cord in Annelida
Conrad Helm, Patrick Beckers, Thomas Bartolomaeus, Stephan H. Drukewitz, Ioannis Kourtesis, Anne Weigert, Günter Purschke, Katrine Worsaae, Torsten H. Struck, Christoph Bleidorn
The paper reconstructs the evolution of the annelid ventral nerve cord using phylogenomic and morphological analyses, finding that a subepidermal ladder-like nerve cord is derived, not ancestral.
bioRxiv · Jul 28, 2018 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology