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
Lankester (Jour. Micros. Sci., vol. 21, 1881) pointed out that the
axial part of the thoracic limb of _Apus_ (fig. 34) is homologous with
the protopodite in the higher Crustacea, that the two terminal endites
corresponded to the exopodite and endopodite, and that the other
endites and exites were outgrowths from the protopodite analogous
to the epipodites of Malacostraca. There seems to be no objection
to retaining this interpretation, but with the meaning that both
endopodite and exopodite are much reduced, and their functions
transferred to numerous outgrowths of the protopodite. One of the
endites grows inward to form an endobase, the whole limb showing an
attempt to return to the ancestral condition of the trilobite. The
limbs of some other branchiopods are not so easy to understand, but
students of the Crustacea seem to have worked out a fairly
satisfactory comparison between them and _Apus_.
The discovery that the ancestral Branchiopoda had simple biramous
appendages instead of the rather complex phyllopodan type is another
case in which the theory of "recapitulation" has proved to hold. It
had already been observed that in ontogeny the biramous limb preceded
the phyllopodan, but so strong has been the belief in the primitive
character of the Apodidæ that the obvious suggestion has been ignored.
Even in such highly specialized Malacostraca as the hermit crabs the
development of certain of the limbs illustrates the change from the
schizopodal to the phyllopodan type, and Thompson (Proc. Boston Soc.
Nat. Hist., vol. 31, 1903, pl. 5, fig. 12) has published an especially
good series of drawings showing the first maxilliped. In the first to
fourth zoeæ the limb is biramous but in the glaucothoe a pair of broad
processes grow out from the protopodite, while the exopodite and
particularly the endopodite become greatly reduced. In the adult the
endopodite is a mere vestige, while the flat outgrowths from the
protopodite have become very large and bear setæ.
_Summary._
The limbs of most Crustacea are readily explained as modifications of
a simple biramous type. These modifications usually take the form of
reduction by the loss or fusion of segments and quite generally either
the entire endopodite or exopodite is lacking. Modification by
addition frequently occurs in the growth of epipodites, "endites," and
"exites" from the coxopodite, basipodite, or both. A protopodite is
generally formed by the fusion of coxopodite and basipodite,
accompanied by a transference of the proximal end of the exopodite to
the distal end of the basipodite. A new segment, not known in the
trilobites (precoxal), is sometimes added at the inner end.
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