This is Trilobite Tuesday post #11.
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If you have most than a passing interest in trilobites, you've certainly heard of Richard Fortey. He's one of the foremost researchers of trilobites in the world. He fell in love with trilobites at age 14. He's appeared in a bunch of BBC nature programs in recent years and written numerous books on paleontology, including one of my favorites "Trilobite!: Eyewitness to Evolution" in 2000. He appeared on episode 18 of Palaeocast. If you like podcasts and trilobites, check it out... it's a very informative episode!
Trilobites are one of the most instantly recognisable groups of fossils. They were present from the very start of the Paleozoic and went on the fill a great number of ecological roles before going extinct at the Permo-Triassic mass extinction event 252 million years ago. They ranged from the very small to the very large, from the most basic appearance to the most elaborately ornamented.
We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to speak to Prof. Richard Fortey of the Natural History Museum, London, all about trilobite morphology and ecology.
Despite having such a simple appearance (dorsally at least), there is a great amount of variation that can be built into the number of segments, relative proportions of each tagma and location of spines. These small differences contribute to the recognition of approximately 17,000 individual species. Copyright of Peter Cameron. All rights reserved.
The physical characteristics of trilobites are often used to infer how each species lived; morphology to infer ecology. Dense pustulation (lumps and bumps) have been suggested to protect the carapace from abrasion. Feeding habits can also be inferred from the ventral feeding plate, the hypostome, and the glabella and their positioning relative to each other. Copyright of Peter Cameron. All rights reserved.
Dicranurus monstrosus possesses large, ornate spines, which may potentially serve a purpose other than just protection. Copyright of Peter Cameron. All rights reserved.
This trilobite possesses the more advanced schizochroal eye, this one expanded dorsally, to give an even better view of the sea floor. Modifications in other trilobites even include sun-shades to isolate the lenses from immediate light from above. Copyright of Peter Cameron. All rights reserved.
