Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology

Kraft, Petr; Vaškaninová, Valéria; Mergl, Michal; Budil, Petr; Fatka, Oldřich; Ahlberg, Per E.

doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06567-7

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…1994; Fortey & Owens 1999; Bush & Bambach 2011; Kraft et al . 2023), although powerfully bioturbating deposit feeders were of minor importance until the Silurian (Tarhan & Droser 2014; Tarhan et al . 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological novelty at the start of the Cambrian and Ordovician radiations of echinoderms

Novack‐Gottshall,

Purcell,

Sultan

et al. 2024

Palaeontology

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The Cambrian and Ordovician radiations marked the origins of all major echinoderm clades and established their Phanerozoic ecological blueprint. Recent claims of modest innovation of early echinoderms and other animals suggest constraints on novelty during the origins of phyla. Here, we document the life‐habit richness, body size, tiering, habitat usage, mobility, diet and foraging habits of 366 Cambrian–Ordovician echinoderm genera across a time‐scaled phylogeny to identify the timing and impact of novelty. Most early echinoderms were sedentary, filter‐feeding microbivores, and their body sizes, diets and modes of locomotion were largely unchanged through time, despite major volatility in taxonomic composition. Cambrian echinoderms lived close to the seafloor, with stylophorans first evolving semi‐infaunality. Many Ordovician echinoderms lived farther from the seafloor, with more complex filter‐feeding organs and tiering structure, often using other organisms as substrates. Mobile carnivores and mass‐feeders emerge then, too, across diverse asterozoans and echinozoans. Most of these novelties coincide with the origins of individual clades during the early and late Cambrian (Terreneuvian/Series 2 and Furongian), and 10–20 million years pass before most become ecologically important. Life‐habit evolution within most taxa involved new variations in these traits, with crinoids and asterozoans better able to shift strategies. The Ordovician radiation records more new variability in pre‐existing Cambrian life habits rather than radical re‐invention, with important novelties (like mobile carnivory and mass‐feeding, increased height off the seafloor, and biotic substrates) becoming ecologically more impactful. Taxa with these strategies were those best able to capitalize on the newly heterogeneous Ordovician world.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological novelty at the start of the Cambrian and Ordovician radiations of echinoderms

Novack‐Gottshall,

Purcell,

Sultan

et al. 2024

Palaeontology

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“…largely conforms to one of two main types recognized in trilobites ( 7 ), characterized by a well-differentiated crop and a large intestine. However, it has been argued ( 7 , 14 , 53 ) that this particular gut architecture is typically devoid of digestive glands, despite evidence to the contrary ( 54 , 55 ). The crop of Protolenus ( Hupeolenus ) sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid volcanic ash entombment reveals the 3D anatomy of Cambrian trilobites

El Albani,

Mazurier,

Edgecombe

et al. 2024

Science

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Knowledge of Cambrian animal anatomy is limited by preservational processes that result in compaction, size bias, and incompleteness. We documented pristine three-dimensional (3D) anatomy of trilobites fossilized through rapid ash burial from a pyroclastic flow entering a shallow marine environment. Cambrian ellipsocephaloid trilobites from Morocco are articulated and undistorted, revealing exquisite details of the appendages and digestive system. Previously unknown anatomy includes a soft-tissue labrum attached to the hypostome, a slit-like mouth, and distinctive cephalic feeding appendages. Our findings resolve controversy over whether the trilobite hypostome is the labrum or incorporates it and establish crown-group euarthropod homologies in trilobites. This occurrence of moldic fossils with 3D soft parts highlights volcanic ash deposits in marine settings as an underexplored source for exceptionally preserved organisms.

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“…The highest number of such specimens has been reported from the Letná Formation (Fatka et al 2013). Remains of the digestive system represented by a pouch-like structure usually called the crop (Kraft et al 2023;Lerosey et al 2011) associated with remains of the intestine gut are known in more than 20 articulated specimens of the trinucleid Deanaspis goldfussii (Barrande, 1846) (see Beyrich 1846; Barrande 1852;Raymond 1920;Přibyl & Vaněk 1969;Šnajdr 1990Shaw 1995;. From the Veselá locality near Beroun, Šnajdr (1991, fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

REMAINS OF THE ALIMENTARY TRACT IN THE LATE ORDOVICIAN TRILOBITE <em>DALMANITINA</em> (PRAGUE BASIN, BARRANDIAN AREA, CZECH REPUBLIC)

FATKA,

BUDIL,

MIKULÁŠ

2024

RIPS

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Preservation of digestive structures in trilobites is generally rare; remains of the alimentary tract have been documented in about eighty of more than twenty thousand described species. Several tens of specimens belonging to five Cambrian and nine Ordovician species from the Barrandian area, Czech Republic, have markedly contributed to the knowledge of the trilobite digestive system. Here, we describe seven exceptionally preserved late holaspid trilobite specimens of species of the genus Dalmanitina collected from Upper Ordovician strata of the Barrandian area. All studied specimens are preserved as internal moulds and exhibit a narrow strip-like structure that runs sagitally or sub-sagitally under the axial lobe of the thoracopygon. These strip-like structures are markedly different from scavenger burrows and are interpreted as remains of the alimentary canal. A slightly expanded anterior-most part of the digestive system is preserved in the cephalic shield of six specimens and is interpreted as a remainder of the anterior midgut. A dark area is seen in the glabellar lobes of three specimens. These dark areas do not represent pyrite concentrations in the hypostome–glabellar cavity, because they contain only small amounts of Fe and S. These areas are interpreted as the remainder of cephalic digestive midgut diverticula, or the “perigastric organ”. Quantitative chemical analyses show that in species of Dalmanitina the digestive system is preserved as dark matter containing partly digested food particles and most probably also a higher amount of clay minerals. The described specimens constitute the first well-documented example of digestive structures in the subfamily Dalmanitininae.

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Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology

Cited by 7 publications

References 32 publications

Ecological novelty at the start of the Cambrian and Ordovician radiations of echinoderms

Ecological novelty at the start of the Cambrian and Ordovician radiations of echinoderms

Rapid volcanic ash entombment reveals the 3D anatomy of Cambrian trilobites

REMAINS OF THE ALIMENTARY TRACT IN THE LATE ORDOVICIAN TRILOBITE <em>DALMANITINA</em> (PRAGUE BASIN, BARRANDIAN AREA, CZECH REPUBLIC)

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