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
_Marrella_ and _Habelia_ are types of Crustacea which can neither be
placed in the Trilobita nor in any of the established subclasses of
the Eucrustacea. They represent a transitional group, the members of
which are, so far as known, adapted to the crawling mode of life,
though it may prove that there are also swimmers which can be
classified with them. To this subclass the name _Haplopoda_ may be
applied, the feet being simple.
The two known families, Marrellidæ Walcott and Aglaspidæ Clarke,
belong to different orders, the second having already the name
Aglaspina Walcott. The name _Marrellina_ may therefore be used for the
other.
For _Sidneyia_, Walcott proposed the new subordinal name Limulava,
placing it under the Eurypterida. While _Sidneyia_, _Emeraldella_, and
_Amiella_ may belong to the group that gave rise to the Eurypterida,
they are themselves Crustacea, and a place must be found for them in
that group. The possession of only one pair of antennæ prevents their
reception by the Haplopoda, and allies them to the Trilobita, but the
modifications of the trunk and its appendages keep them out of that
subclass, and a new one has to be erected for them. This may be known
as the _Xenopoda_, in allusion to the strange appendages of
_Sidneyia_.
_Synopsis._
Class Crustacea.
Subclass Trilobita Walch.
Crustacea with one pair of uniramous antennæ, and possessing facial
sutures.
Order Nektaspia nov.
Trilobita without thoracic segments. Cephala and pygidia simple.
Family Naraoidæ Walcott.
Cephalon and pygidium large, both shields nearly smooth. Eyes absent.
A single species: _Naraoia compacta_ Walcott, Middle Cambrian, British
Columbia.
Subclass Haplopoda nov.
Crustacea with trilobate form, two pairs of uniramous antennæ, no
facial sutures, sessile compound eyes present or absent, pygidium and
pleural lobes generally reduced, large labrum present, appendages of
the trunk biramous.
Order Marrellina nov.
Form trilobite-like, pleural lobes reduced, endobases absent from
coxopodites of body, pygidium a small plate.
Family Marrellidæ Walcott.
Cephalon with long genal and nuchal spines. Eyes marginal. A single
species: _Marrella splendens_ Walcott, Middle Cambrian, British
Columbia.
Order Aglaspina Walcott.
Body trilobite-like, with few thoracic segments, and a spine-like
telson. Appendages biramous.
Family Aglaspidæ Clarke.
Cephalon trilobate, with or without compound eyes, seven or eight
segments in the thorax.
Genus _Aglaspis_ Hall.
Compound eyes present, seven segments in thorax. Upper Cambrian,
Wisconsin.
Genus _Molaria_ Walcott.
Compound eyes absent, eight segments in thorax. Middle Cambrian,
British Columbia.
Genus _Habelia_ Walcott.
Compound eyes absent. Not yet fully described. Middle Cambrian,
British Columbia.
Subclass Xenopoda nov.
Crustacea with more or less eurypterid-like form, one pair of
uniramous antennæ, biramous appendages on anterior part of trunk,
modified endopodites on cephalon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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