Virtual Palaeontology of Chengjiang Arthropods

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Roland Melzer
• Subject Area: Palaeontology ; Systematics and Morphology (Zoology)
• Term: from 2019 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 410561778

Arthropods have been representing the most abundant animal group on the earth since the early Cambrian. Studies on the exceptionally preserved Chengjiang arthropod fossils will largely improve our understandings of the early evolution and survival strategies of the arthropods. However, the evolutionary relations and the phylogeny of those early representatives still remain highly controversial. This is partly because of the limited coding information that evolutionists/phylogenists could extract from the fossil specimens. Limitations in the number of fossils, quality of preservation and visualization techniques have been playing a role in this. In the present project, we will be applying advanced visualization techniques to (re)study the Chengjiang arthropod fossils. These include Micro-CT to extract previously unknown information from the inside of the slabs, fluorescent microscopy and SEM to reveal previously invisible information from the the surface of the slabs, and spectroscopy to analyze chemical components of the fossils. Based on these, we will be able to solve some of the long-existing problems such as the Arthropod Head Problem and Arthropod Phylogeny.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: China
• Partner Organisation: National Natural Science Foundation of China
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Joachim Tobias Haug; Dr. Carolin Haug
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Xianguang Hou; Professor Dr. Yu Liu; Professor Dr. Dayou Zhai