The origins of the arthropod nervous system: insights from the Onychophora

A revision of evolutionary relationships of the Arthropoda has provided fresh impetus to tracing the origins of the nervous system of this group of animals: other members of the Ecdysozoa possess a markedly different type of nervous system from both the arthropods and the annelid worms, with which they were previously grouped. Given their status as favoured sister taxon of the arthropods, Onychophora (velvet worms) are a key group for understanding the evolutionary changes that have taken place in the panarthropod (Arthropoda + Onychophora + Tardigrada) lineage. This article reviews our current knowledge of the structure and development of the onychophoran nervous system. The picture that emerges from these studies is that the nervous system of the panarthropod ancestor was substantially different from that of modern arthropods: this animal probably possessed a bipartite, rather than a tripartite brain; its nerve cord displayed only a limited degree of segmentation; and neurons were more numerous but more uniform in morphology than in living arthropods. These observations suggest an evolutionary scenario, by which the arthropod nervous system evolved from a system of orthogonally crossing nerve tracts present in both a presumed protostome ancestor and many extant worm-like invertebrates, including the onychophorans.