Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 11, 2025

Determination of Photoreceptor Cell Spectral Sensitivity in an Insect Model from In Vivo Intracellular Recordings
Published on: February 26, 2016
Evolution of blindness in scolopendromorph centipedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha): insight from an expanded
Varpu Vahtera1, Gregory D Edgecombe2, Gonzalo Giribet1
1Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Abstract:
Relative to its diversity (34 genera, 700 species), Scolopendromorpha has been undersampled in molecular phylogenetic analyses compared with the other chilopod orders. Previous analyses based on morphology have not resolved several key controversies in systematics and evolutionary morphology unambiguously. Here we apply new molecular and morphological data to scolopendromorph phylogenetics, with a focus on the evolution of blindness. The taxonomic sample includes 19 genera, many lacking previous molecular data, and diverse, cosmopolitan genera of Scolopendridae are sampled by multiple species. Phylogenetic analysis with Direct Optimization used 94 morphological characters and ca. 4.5 kb of sequence data from two nuclear (18S and 28S rRNA) and two mitochondrial (16S rRNA and COI) loci. A single most-parsimonious cladogram selected after sensitivity analyses resolves Scolopendromorpha as monophyletic, and divides it into a blind clade of three families (Plutoniumidae, Cryptopidae, Scolopocryptopidae) and its ocellate sister group, Scolopendridae. Some species-rich, cosmopolitan genera (Cormocephalus, Otostigmus, Scolopendra) in Scolopendridae are non-monophyletic, and in several instances (e.g. New and Old World Scolopendra) relationships are more congruent with geographical distributions than with traditional classifications. The tribe Asanadini is particularly subject to parameter-sensitivity, nesting in the combined analysis within Scolopendrini but as sister to all other Scolopendrinae for molecular data alone. The total-evidence tree unambiguously optimizes trunk segmentation: a 23-segmented trunk has a single origin in the blind clade. © The Willi Hennig Society 2011.
Related Concept Videos
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Gene Duplication and Divergence
The duplicated copies of the gene are called Paralogs. Paralogs with similar sequences and functions form a gene family. Across several species, a large number of gene families are...
The Evidence for Evolution
Convergent Evolution
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...
Diversity of Protists I

