Journal
HISTORICAL BIOLOGY
Volume 29, Issue 3, Pages 328-340Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2016.1161031
Keywords
Cambrian; ecology; functional morphology; arthropods
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Funding
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas [CGL2013-48877-P]
- Secretaria de Estado de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion [FPDI-2013-17337]
- 973 Project of National Ministry of Sciences and Technology [2013CB835000]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41362002, 41402011]
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Damesella paronai is the earliest enrolled odontopleurid trilobite to be found in the fossil record. Whereas its interlocking devices were very poorly developed, its trunk shows advanced articulations, which only lack an articulating facet, though an anterior notch is present in the outer part of each pleura. Its body pattern and structures did not allow it an encapsulated enrolment style. On the other hand, it is coeval with the early asaphid Monkaspis daulis, found in the same beds and at the same level. This co-inhabiting trilobite had a more advanced structure that enabled it to achieve a fully enrolled, encapsulated style. These superior structures enhance the preservation of enrolled specimens of M. daulis, and it seems to be generally the case that more elegant structures actually improve preservation. The evolutionary trends of the lineages of these two trilobites show that while odontopleurids were very conservative, using the same enrolment style throughout their history, the asaphids developed different enrolment styles, which was one factor in giving them a capacity to occupy different ecological niches and a greater range of environments.
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