Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period

doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09966-0

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	Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period
	Lei, Xiangtong 1,2; Zhang, Sihang 2; Cong, Peiyun 2,3; Vinther, Jakob 4,5; Gabbott, Sarah 6; Wei, Fan 2; Xu, Xing1,7
	2026-01-21
发表期刊	NATURE
ISSN	0028-0836
页码	18
通讯作者	Cong, Peiyun(cong@ynu.edu.cn)
摘要	Vertebrate vision is mainly accommodated by a pair of lateral image-forming camera-type eyes and is supplemented in non-mammalian vertebrates by a dorsal pineal complex (pineal and parapineal organs) functioning as photoreceptive and/or endocrine organs1. The pineal complex shares a common genetic and embryological basis with the lateral eyes, both derived from evaginations during the development of diencephalon2. Despite being widely heralded as the 'third eye' in crown vertebrates3, the nature of the pineal complex and its presumed visual capability in early vertebrates2 remain unknown. Here we describe two pigmented features situated between the lateral eyes in two species of myllokunmingids, the earliest known fossil vertebrates (approximately 518 million years ago), and interpret these as pineal/parapineal organs. In both myllokunmingid species, the pineal complex contains abundant melanin-containing melanosomes identical to those in the retinal pigment epithelium in the lateral eyes, together with a distinctive, regularly ovoid structure interpreted as a lens. Our results indicate that the lateral eyes and pineal complex in myllokunmingids probably functioned as camera-type eyes capable of image formation. Thus, we propose that the four camera-type eyes represent an ancestral vertebrate character, corroborating hypotheses about the deep homology between the eyes and pineal complex.
DOI	10.1038/s41586-025-09966-0
关键词[WOS]	EVOLUTION ; FISH ; PHOTORECEPTORS ; OXIDATION ; ANATOMY ; MELANIN
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
资助项目	Yunnan Science & Technology Champion Project[202305AB350006]###2960 ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[42072019]###3595 ; Yunling Scholarship of the Yunnan Revitalization Talent Support Program###3596
项目资助者	Yunnan Science & Technology Champion Project ; National Natural Science Foundation of China ; Yunling Scholarship of the Yunnan Revitalization Talent Support Program
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics
WOS类目	Multidisciplinary Sciences
WOS记录号	WOS:001666483600001
出版者	NATURE PORTFOLIO
引用统计
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.205/handle/311034/25213
专题	中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所
通讯作者	Cong, Peiyun
作者单位	1.Yunnan Univ, Ctr Vertebrate Evolutionary Biol, Sch Life Sci, Kunming, Peoples R China 2.Yunnan Univ, Inst Palaeontol, State Key Lab Vegetat Struct Funct & Construct Veg, Kunming, Peoples R China 3.Univ Oxford, Oxford Univ Museum Nat Hist, Oxford, England 4.Univ Bristol, Sch Earth Sci, Palaeobiol Res Grp, Bristol, England 5.Univ Bristol, Sch Biol Sci, Bristol, England 6.Univ Leicester, Ctr Palaeobiol & Biosphere Evolut, Sch Geog Geol & Environm, Leicester, England 7.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Key Lab Vertebrate Evolut & Human Origins, Beijing, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Lei, Xiangtong,Zhang, Sihang,Cong, Peiyun,et al. Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period[J]. NATURE,2026:18.
APA	Lei, Xiangtong.,Zhang, Sihang.,Cong, Peiyun.,Vinther, Jakob.,Gabbott, Sarah.,...&Xu, Xing.(2026).Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period.NATURE,18.
MLA	Lei, Xiangtong,et al."Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period".NATURE (2026):18.