Chiton: Difference between revisions

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Chitons date as far back as either the Early Ordovician or the Cambrian, not the Devonian like the infobox claimed.
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{{Automatic taxobox
|taxon=Polyplacophora
|fossil_range={{fossil range|earliest cambrian=|DevonianLate Cambrian|Present|ref=<ref name=Runnegar1974 /><ref name=Serb2008"LesleyCherns2007" />}}
|image=Tonicella-lineata.jpg
|image_caption=A live lined chiton, ''[[Tonicella lineata]]'' photographed ''[[in situ]]'': The anterior end of the animal is to the right.
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==Evolutionary origins==
Chitons have a relatively good fossil record, stretching back {{Ma|400|millionto years}}the Cambrian,<ref name=Serb2008Runnegar1974 /><ref toname="LesleyCherns2007">{{cite thejournal Devonian.|last1=Cherns Before|first1=Lesley this,|date=2 someJanuary organisms2007 have|title=Early beenPalaeozoic interpreteddiversification of chitons (tentativelyPolyplacophora, Mollusca) asbased stemon new data from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/00241160410002180 |journal=[[Lethaia]] |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=445-group456 |doi=10.1080/00241160410002180 |access-date=25 November 2022}}</ref> with the genus polyplacophora''Preacanthochiton'', potentiallyknown stretchingfrom fossils found in Late Cambrian deposits in [[Missouri]], being classified as the recordearliest known polyplacophoran. However, the exact phylogenetic position of polyplacophorasupposed Cambrian chitons is highly controversial, and some authors have instead argued that the earliest confirmed polyplacophorans date back to the [[Early Ordovician]].<ref name=Sigwart2007>{{cite journal |last1=Sigwart |first1=J.D. |last2=Sutton |first2=M.D. |date=October 2007 |title=Deep molluscan phylogeny: Synthesis of palaeontological and neontological data |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |issue=1624 |volume=274 |pages=2413–2419 |pmid=17652065 |pmc=2274978 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.0701}} For a summary, see {{cite web |title=The Mollusca |publisher=University of California Museum of Paleontology |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/taxa/inverts/mollusca/mollusca.php |access-date=2 October 2008 |archive-date=15 December 2012 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6CvnfcV0o?url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/taxa/inverts/mollusca/mollusca.php |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Kimberella]]'' and ''[[Wiwaxia]]'' of the Precambrian and Cambrian may be related to ancestral polyplacophorans. ''[[Matthevia]]'' is a Late Cambrian polyplacophoran preserved as individual pointed valves, and sometimes considered to be a chiton,<ref name=Runnegar1974>{{cite journal |first1=B. |last1=Runnegar | first2=J. Jr. |last2=Pojeta |date=October 1974 |title=Molluscan phylogeny: The paleontological viewpoint |volume=186 |journal=Science |issue=4161 |pages=311–317 |jstor=1739764 |pmid=17839855 |doi=10.1126/science.186.4161.311 |bibcode=1974Sci...186..311R |s2cid=46429653}}</ref> although at the closest, it can only be a stem-group member of the group.<ref name=Vendrasco>{{cite journal |last1=Vendrasco |first1=M.J. |last2=Wood |first2=T.E. |last3=Runnegar |first3=B.N. |year=2004 |title=Articulated Palaeozoic fossil with 17&nbsp;plates greatly expands disparity of early chitons |journal=Nature |volume=429 |issue=6989 |pages=288–291 |pmid=15152250 |doi=10.1038/nature02548 |bibcode=2004Natur.429..288V |s2cid=4428441}}</ref>
 
[[File:Matthevia.JPG|thumb|right|Separate plates from ''Matthevia'', a Late [[Cambrian]] polyplacophoran from the Hellnmaria Member of the Notch Peak Limestone, Steamboat Pass, southern House Range, Utah are shown with a [[cent (United States coin)|US one-cent coin]] (19&nbsp;mm in diameter).]]
''[[Kimberella]]'' and ''[[Wiwaxia]]'' of the Precambrian and Cambrian may be related to ancestral polyplacophora. ''[[Matthevia]]'' is a Late Cambrian polyplacophoran preserved as individual pointed valves, and sometimes considered to be a chiton,<ref name=Runnegar1974>{{cite journal |first1=B. |last1=Runnegar | first2=J. Jr. |last2=Pojeta |date=October 1974 |title=Molluscan phylogeny: The paleontological viewpoint |volume=186 |journal=Science |issue=4161 |pages=311–317 |jstor=1739764 |pmid=17839855 |doi=10.1126/science.186.4161.311 |bibcode=1974Sci...186..311R |s2cid=46429653}}</ref> although at the closest, it can only be a stem-group member of the group.<ref name=Vendrasco>{{cite journal |last1=Vendrasco |first1=M.J. |last2=Wood |first2=T.E. |last3=Runnegar |first3=B.N. |year=2004 |title=Articulated Palaeozoic fossil with 17&nbsp;plates greatly expands disparity of early chitons |journal=Nature |volume=429 |issue=6989 |pages=288–291 |pmid=15152250 |doi=10.1038/nature02548 |bibcode=2004Natur.429..288V |s2cid=4428441}}</ref>
 
Based on this and co-occurring fossils, one plausible hypothesis for the origin of polyplacophora has that they formed when an aberrant monoplacophoran was born with multiple centres of calcification, rather than the usual one. Selection quickly acted on the resultant conical shells to form them to overlap into protective armour; their original cones are homologous to the tips of the plates of modern chitons.<ref name=Runnegar1974/>
 
The chitons evolved from [[multiplacophora]] during the Palaeozoic, with their relatively conserved modern-day body plan being fixed by the Mesozoic.<ref name=Vendrasco/>
 
The earliest fossil evidence of [[aesthete (chiton)|aesthetes]] in chitons comes from around 400 Ma, during the [[Early Devonian]].<ref name=Serb2008/>
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