J Pardo: Supranumerary eyes are common in arthropods but absent in vertebrates. This would put early vertebrate central nervous system and sensory diversity more in line with what we see in arthropods and raises questions about exactly how much contingency there may have been in the origin of own body plan.

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J Pardo jdpardo.bsky.social · Jan 21
New paper presenting rather compelling evidence that the stem-vertebrate Haikouichthys had paired lateral and supranumerary medial eyes (!!!), and proposing that the medial eyes may have deep homology with the pineal and parapineal organs. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period - Nature

Early vertebrates, particularly myllokunmingids, possessed four camera-type eyes (a pair of lateral eyes and pineal and parapineal organs), which indicates that these structures functio...

nature.com

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J Pardo jdpardo.bsky.social
Supranumerary eyes are common in arthropods but absent in vertebrates. This would put early vertebrate central nervous system and sensory diversity more in line with what we see in arthropods and raises questions about exactly how much contingency there may have been in the origin of own body plan.
Jan 21, 2026 17:49
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