Preservation of three-dimensional anatomy in phosphatized fossil arthropods enriches evolutionary inference
![Preservation of three-dimensional anatomy in phosphatized fossil arthropods enriches evolutionary inference](https://usg.fei-software-center.com/backoffice/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/default.jpg)
External and internal morphological characters of extant and fossil organisms are crucial to establishing their systematic position, ecological role and evolutionary trends. (…) We found well-preserved three-dimensional anatomy in mineralized arthropods from Paleogene fissure fillings and demonstrate the value of these fossils by utilizing digitally reconstructed anatomical structure of a hister beetle. The new anatomical data facilitate a refinement of the species diagnosis and allowed us to reject a previous hypothesis of close phylogenetic relationship to an extant congeneric species. Our findings suggest that mineralized fossils, even those of macroscopically poor preservation, constitute a rich but yet largely unexploited source of anatomical data for fossil arthropods.