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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Three and Four-Dimensional Visualization and Analysis Approaches to Study Vertebrate Axial Elongation and Segmentation
Published on: February 28, 2021
Saltational evolution of trunk segment number in centipedes
Alessandro Minelli1, Amazonas Chagas-Júnior, Gregory D Edgecombe
1Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58 B, Padova I-35131, Italy. alessandro.minelli@unipd.it
Abstract:
Saltational changes in segment numbers have likely occurred in arthropod evolution, especially if mechanisms of segment formation involve a multiplicative phase, as recently suggested in the evo-devo literature. Here we provide for the first time evidence of major phenotypic saltation in the evolution of segment number in a lineage of centipedes, with a newly discovered species of scolopender having segment numbers duplicated with respect to its closest relatives, and to all the remaining 700+ species of Scolopendromorpha known to date.
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