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
Order Limulava Walcott.
Cephalon with lateral or marginal eyes and large epistoma. Body with
eleven free segments and a telson. Cephalic appendages grouped about
the mouth.
Family Sidneyidæ Walcott.
Trunk probably with exopodites only, and without appendages on the
last two segments. Telson with a pair of lateral swimmerets.
Genus _Sidneyia_ Walcott.
Third cephalic appendage a large compound claw. Gnathobases forming
strong jaws. Middle Cambrian, British Columbia.
Genus _Amiella_ Walcott.
Middle Cambrian, British Columbia.
Family Emeraldellidæ nov.
Trunk with biramous appendages in anterior part, and appendages on all
segments except possibly the spine-like telson.
Genus _Emeraldella_ Walcott.
Cephalic appendages simple spiniferous endopodites. Eyes unknown.
Middle Cambrian, British Columbia.
[Illustration: Fig. 41.--A diagram showing possible lines of descent
of the other Arthropoda from the Trilobita. The three recognized
orders of the latter are shown separately. The known geological range
is indicated in solid black, the hypothetical range and connections
stippled. The short branch beside the Opisthoparia represents the
range of the Haplopoda. The term Arachnida is used for all arachnids
other than Merostomata, merely as a convenient inclusive name for the
groups not especially studied.]
Final Summary.
It is generally believed that the Arthropoda constitute a natural,
monophyletic group. The data assembled in the preceding pages indicate
that the other Arthropoda were derived directly or indirectly from the
Trilobita because:
(1) the trilobites are the oldest known arthropods;
(2) the trilobites of all formations show great variation in the
number of trunk segments, but with a tendency for the number to become
fixed in each genus;
(3) the trilobites have a constant number of segments in the head;
(4) the position of the mouth is variable, so that either the
Crustacea or the Arachnida could be derived from the trilobites;
(5) the trilobite type of appendage is found, in vestigial form at
least, throughout the Arthropoda;
(6) the appendages of all other Arthropoda are of forms which could
have been derived from those of trilobites;
(7) the appendages of trilobites are the simplest known among the
Arthropoda;
(8) the trilobites show practically all known kinds of sessile
arthropodan eyes, simple, compound, and aggregate;
(9) the apparent specializations of trilobites, large pleural lobes
and pygidia, are primitive, and both suffer reduction within the
group.
The ancestor of the trilobite is believed to have been a soft-bodied,
free-swimming, flat, blind or nearly blind animal of few segments,
because:
(a) the form of both adult and embryo is of a type more adapted for
floating than crawling;
(b) the large pygidium is shown by ontogeny to be primitive, and the
elongate worm-like form secondary;
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