The Appendages, Anatomy, and Relationships of TrilobitesRaymond, Percy E. (Percy Edward)
Science
The Appendages, Anatomy, and Relationships of Trilobites
Raymond, Percy E. (Percy Edward)
Trilobites
The Branchiopoda were very highly specialized as early as Middle
Cambrian time, the carapace of the Notostraca being fully developed
and the abdomen limbless. Some (_Burgessia_) had numerous segments,
but most had relatively few. The most striking point about them,
however, is that so far as is known none of them had phyllopodan
limbs. While the preservation is in most cases unsatisfactory, such
limbs as are preserved are trilobite-like, and in the case of
_Burgessia_ there can be no possible doubt of the structure. Another
interesting feature is the retention by _Yohoia_ of vestiges of
pleural lobes. The Middle Cambrian Branchiopoda are more closely
allied to the Trilobita than are the modern ones, but still the
subclass is not so closely related to that group as has been thought.
Modern _Apus_ is certainly much less like a trilobite than has been
supposed, and very far from being primitive. The Branchiopoda of the
Middle Cambrian could have been derived from the trilobites by the
loss of the pleural lobes, the development of the posterior margin of
the cephalon to form a carapace, and the loss of the appendages from
the abdominal segments. Modern branchiopods can be derived from those
of the Middle Cambrian by the modification of the appendages through
the reduction of the endopodite and exopodite and the growth of the
endites and exites from the proximal segments.
Carpenter (1903, p. 334), from his study of recent crustaceans, has
already come to the conclusion that the Branchiopoda are not the most
primitive subclass, and this opinion is strengthened by evidence
derived from the Trilobita and from the Branchiopoda of the Middle
Cambrian.
COPEPODA.
The non-parasitic Eucopepoda are in many ways much nearer to the
trilobites than any other Crustacea. These little animals lack the
carapace, and the body is short, with typically ten free segments and
a telson bearing caudal furcæ. The head is composed of five segments
(if the first thoracic segment is really the fused first and second),
is often flattened, and lacks compound eyes. Pleural lobes are well
developed, but instead of being flattened as in the trilobite, they
are turned down at the sides or even incurved. A labrum is present.
The antennules, antennæ, and mandibles are quite like those of
trilobites. The antennules are very long and made up of numerous
segments. The antennæ are biramous, the junction between the
coxopodite and basipodite is well marked, and the endopodite consists
of only two segments.
The mandibles are said to "retain more completely than in any other
Crustacea the form of biramous swimming limbs which they possess in
the nauplius." The coxopodites form jaws, while both the reduced
endopodite and exopodite are furnished with long setæ. The maxillulæ
are also biramous, but very different in form from those of the
trilobite, and the maxillæ are phyllopodan.
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