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 greatest difficulty is in finding a satisfactory explanation of
the appendages. The general condition is somewhat more primitive than
in the copepods, for all the appendages are biramous, while in the
modern forms the maxillipeds are uniramous and the sixth pair of
thoracic appendages are usually modified in the male as copulatory
organs. In the copepods the modification is in the direction of
reduction, both endopodites and exopodites usually possessing fewer
segments than the corresponding branches in the trilobites. The
endopodite of _Euthycarcinus_, on the contrary, possesses, if
Handlirsch's interpretation is correct, twice as many segments as the
endopodite of a trilobite. If the Copepoda are descended from the
trilobites, as everything tends to indicate, then _Euthycarcinus_ is
certainly not a connecting link. The only truly copepodan
characteristic of this genus is the agreement in number and
disposition of free segments. The division into three regions instead
of two, the compound eyes, and the structure of the appendages are all
foreign to that group.
With the Limulava fresh in mind, one is tempted to compare
_Euthycarcinus_ with that ancient type. The short head and large
marginal eyes recall _Sidneyia_, and the grouping of the appendages
about the mouth also suggests that genus and _Emeraldella_. In the
Limulava likewise there is a contraction of the posterior segments,
although it is behind the ninth instead of the sixth. There is no
likeness in detail between the appendages of the Limulava and those of
_Euthycarcinus_, but the composite claws of _Sidneyia_ show that in
this group there was a tendency toward the formation of extra
segments.
If this fossil had been found in the Cambrian instead of the Triassic,
it would probably have been referred to the Limulava, and is not
at all impossible that it is a descendant from that group. As a
connecting link between the Trilobita and Copepoda it is, however,
quite unsatisfactory.
OSTRACODA.
The bivalved shell of the Ostracoda gives to this group of animals an
external appearance very different from that of the trilobites, but
the few appendages, though highly modified, are directly comparable.
The development, although modified by the early appearance of the
bivalved shell within which the nauplius lies, is direct. Imperfect
compound eyes are present in one family.
The antennules are short and much modified by functioning as swimming,
creeping, or digging organs. They consist of eight or less segments.
The antennas are also locomotor organs, and in most orders are
biramous. The mandibles are biramous and usually with, but sometimes
without, a gnathobase. The maxillulæ are likewise biramous but much
modified.
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