Cell size versus body size in geophilomorph centipedes

Abstract

Variation in animal body size is the result of a complex interplay between variation in cell number and cell size, but the latter has seldom been considered in wide-ranging comparative studies, although distinct patterns of variation have been described in the evolution of different lineages. We investigated the correlation between epidermal cell size and body size in a sample of 29 geophilomorph centipede species, representative of a wide range of body sizes, from 6 mm dwarf species to gigantic species more than 200 mm long, exploiting the marks of epidermal cells on the overlying cuticle in the form of micro-sculptures called scutes. We found conspicuous and significant variation in average scute area, both between suprageneric taxa and between genera, while the within-species range of variation is comparatively small. This supports the view that the average epidermal cell size is to some extent taxon specific. However, regression analyses show that neither body size nor the number of leg-bearing segments explain this variation, which suggests that cell size is not an usual target of change for body size evolution in this group of arthropods, although there is evidence of its correlation with other morphological variables, like cuticle thickness. Scute sizes of miniaturized geophilomorph species are well within the range of the lineage to which the species belong, suggesting recent evolutionary transitions to smaller body size.