Ancient crustacean had elaborate heart
The early ancestors of insects, centipedes and crustaceans had big hearts.
A fossil from 520 million years ago shows that the now-extinct Fuxianhuia protensa had a broad spindly heart that extended into a complex system of arteries, which sent blood to the creature’s limbs and organs, including its brain, eyes and antennae. The new 7.6-centimeter-long fossil from Kunming, in southwest China, represents the earliest complete cardiovascular system found in an arthropod, Xiaoya Ma of London’s Natural History Museumand colleagues report April 7 in Nature Communications. The discovery adds to F. protensa’srecord-breaking status: It also has one of the oldest brains identified to date (SN: 11/17/12, p. 11).