The article I have chosen for this post is about Ordovician opabiniid-like animals and the role of the proboscis in euarthropod head evolution. This a recently published article that was posted on 15th of November, 2022 and it covers an important part in the evolution of Euarthropoda and that is the transition between fossil groups that possessed frontal appendages and living groups with a protocerebral labrum and paired appendages. Scientists believe these homologies between groups are controversial and in the article they describe two specimens of opabiniid-like euarthropods.
Link to the article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34204-w
Having read the article I assume that this is an academic, peer-reviewed research material because:
- The article has been written by 4 researchers-anthropologists: Stephen Pates, Joseph P. Botting, Lucy A. Muir & Joanna M. Wolfe
- The article has citations.
- List of references is available and every citation has a note with a link to the source.
- This article has been reviewed by three reviewers and has citations and references as well. A link to peer-reviews is also available.
- The authors of the article conducted phylogenetic analyses, specimens were collected from a small quarry on private land and material was imaged with a camera, stereo-microscopes and cross-polarised lighting