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
Handlirsch places the date of origin of the Insecta rather late, just
at the end of the Devonian and during the "Carboniferous." By that
time most families of trilobites had died out, so that the
possibilities of origin of new stocks were much diminished. If the
haplopod-chilopod-insect line is a better approximation to the truth,
then the divergence began in the Cambrian.
Chilopoda.
The adult chilopod lacks the antennules, and all of the other
appendages, with the exception of the maxillulæ, are uniramous. The
walking legs are similar to the endopodites of trilobites, and usually
have six or seven segments. The appendages are therefore such as could
be derived by modification of those of trilobites by the almost
complete loss of the exopodites and shortening of the endopodites of
the head. The position of the post-oral appendages, the posterior ones
outside those closest the mouth, is perhaps foreshadowed in the
arrangement of those of Triarthrus.
The Chilopoda differ from the Hexapoda in developing the antennæ
instead of the antennules as tactile organs, but this can not be used
with any great effect as an argument that the latter did not arise
from the ancestors of the former, since it is entirely possible that
in early Palæozoic times the pre-Chilopoda possessed two pairs of
antennæ. The first pair are still recognizable in the embryo of
certain species.
The oldest chilopods are species described by Scudder (Mem. Boston
Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, 1890, p. 417, pl. 38) from the Pennsylvania!!
at Mazon Creek, Grundy County, Illinois. Only one of these, _Latzelia
primordialis_ Scudder (pl. 38 fig. 3), is at all well preserved. This
little animal, less than an inch long, had a depressed body, with a
median carina, exceedingly long slender legs, and about nineteen
segments. The head is very nearly obliterated.
Diplopoda.
The diplopods, especially the polydesmids with their lateral
outgrowths, often have a general appearance somewhat like that of a
trilobite, but on closer examination few likenesses are seen. The most
striking single feature of the group, the possession by each segment
of two pairs of appendages, is not in any way foreshadowed in the
trilobites, none of which shows any tendency toward a fusion of pairs
of adjacent segments. The antennules are short, antennæ absent,
mandibles and maxillulæ much modified, the latter possibly biramous,
and the maxillæ absent. The trunk appendages are very similar to those
of chilopods, and could readily be derived from the endopodites of
trilobites.
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