ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2023
Convergent evolution of ventral adaptations for enrolment in trilobites and extant euarthropods.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Quantification of leg mobility in the Burgess Shale Olenoides serratus indicates functional differences between trilobite and xiphosuran appendages.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Convergent evolution of ventral adaptations for enrolment in trilobites and extant euarthropods.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ability to enrol for protection is an effective defensive strategy that has convergently evolved multiple times in disparate animal groups ranging from euarthropods to mammals. Enrolment is a staple habit of trilobites, and their biomineralized dorsal exoskeleton offered a versatile substrate for the evolution of interlocking devices. However, it is unknown whether trilobites also featured ventral adaptations for enrolment. Here, we report ventral exoskeletal adaptations that facilitate enrolment in exceptionally preserved trilobites from the Middle Ordovician Walcott-Rust Quarry in New York State, USA. Walcott-Rust trilobites reveal the intricate three-dimensional organization of the non-biomineralized ventral anatomy preserved as calcite casts, including the spatial relationship between the articulated sternites (i.e. ventral exoskeletal plates) and the wedge-shaped protopodites. Enrolment in trilobites is achieved by ventrally dipping the anterior margin of the sternites during trunk flexure, facilitated by the presence of flexible membranes, and with the close coupling of the wedge-shaped protopodites. Comparisons with the ventral morphology of extant glomerid millipedes and terrestrial isopods reveal similar mechanisms used for enrolment. The wedge-shaped protopodites of trilobites closely resemble the gnathobasic coxa/protopodite of extant horseshoe crabs. We propose that the trilobites' wedge-shaped protopodite simultaneously facilitated tight enrolment and gnathobasic feeding with the trunk appendages.
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