Taxonomic placement of horseshoe crabs revised

[Oxytropidoceras]

Study confirms horseshoe crabs are really relatives 

of spiders, scorpions March 9, 2019 by Kelly April 

Tyrrell, University of Wisconsin-Madison

https://phys.org/news/2019-03-horseshoe-crabs-relatives-spiders-scorpions.html

 

Ballesteros, J.A. and Sharma, P.P., 2019. A Critical 

Appraisal of the Placement of Xiphosura (Chelicerata) 

with Account of Known Sources of Phylogenetic 

Error. Systematic Biology.

https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/advance-article/doi/10.1093/sysbio/syz011/5319972

 

An unrelated article for cat fans is:

 

Scientists have finally discovered what makes celebrity 

cat Lil Bub so 'magical' It took an international team of 

geneticists to crack the code of this cat's mystique.

by Karin Brulliard, The Washington Post, INFORUM

https://www.inforum.com/entertainment/981309-Scientists-have-finally-discovered-what-makes-celebrity-cat-Lil-Bub-so-magical

https://www.grandforksherald.com/entertainment/news/4579948-scientists-have-finally-discovered-what-makes-celebrity-cat-lil-bub-so

https://phys.org/news/2019-03-reveals-genome-celebrity-cat-lil.html

 

The paper is:

 

Mike Bridavsky et al. Crowdfunded whole-genome 

sequencing of the celebrity cat Lil BUB identifies causal 

mutations for her osteopetrosis and polydactyly,

(2019). DOI: 10.1101/556761 

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/556761v1

 

Yours,

 

Paul

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting regarding the taxonomic positioning of the horseshoe crab. 

Though the papers seem to suggest 450 million years old as the origin of the group, discounting the Fezouata Formation in Morocco which pushes their range back to 475 to 480 mya.