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The delicate brain of a 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab discovered at the famous Mazon Creek deposit in Illinois shows the brain anatomy of the aquatic arthropod has remained nearly unchanged throughout most of its evolutionary history.
Soft tissue in the brain is rarely preserved after an organism dies, with the crab brain the first ever to be found intact after such a long period of time.
The specimen, known as Euproops danae, allowed scientists to see the ancient creature's nervous system, which is 'closely comparable to that of living horseshoe crabs and match up in their arrangement of nerves to the eyes and appendages,' University of England professor and co-author of the study John Paterson said in a statement.
Along with revealing the evolutionary history of horseshoe crabs, the scientist also notes this discovery shows arthropod brains can be preserved in different ways.
The Euproops danae specimen was preserved within concretions made of iron carbonate mineral, called siderite, and its brain is replicated by a white-colored clay mineral called kaolinite.
The delicate brain of a 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab shows the brain anatomy of the aquatic arthropod has remained nearly unchanged throughout most of its evolutionary history
'This mineral cast would have formed later within the void left by
