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Happy #TrilobiteTuesday
For Trilobite Tuesday, I bring you the spectacularly spiny Boedaspis ensifer Whittington & Bohlin, 1960 from the lower Ordovician of the St. Petersburg region, Russia (image from https://paleoart.com/acd-6213-boedaspis-ensifer-whittington-bohlin-1960/). Beyond the remarkable spines, I'd like to point out something unusual about the head in odontopleurid trilobites generally. #arthropoda #fossil #trilobita
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The central part of a head, the glabella, is very . . . lobe-y. As an example, I have the silicified head of Acidaspis (Acidaspis) lesperancei Chatterton & Perry, 1983 from the Silurian of Canada. Find the middle part of the head, that is the glabella. The paired lobe-y bits to the side? Those are not eyes, those are bits of the glabella that have sort of budded off. #functionalmorphology #palaeontology #paleontology
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Early in my trilobitic education, I got the mistaken impression that furrows (grooves) were the site of muscle attachement. This is mostly incorrect--grooves, if viewed from the inside are ridges, and have limited space for muscles to attach. See this image for an example from the carapace of a decapod crab (modified from Klompmaker et al 2019). #crustacea #decapoda #malacostraca
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