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Trilobites Essay

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Trilobites

Trilobites are extinct sea creatures that were one of the first forms of life on earth.
They ruled the world before the time of the dinosaurs, from the Cambrian Period to the
Permian Period (between 245 and 600 million years ago). Trilobites are the only extinct form of Arthropods (invertebrate animals having jointed bodies and legs),and were related to the lobster and crab. Their closest living relative today is the horseshoe crab.The name
Trilobite refers to it's three lobes, or body sections, consisting of a central axial lobe, and two pleural lobes on the sides. The three main parts of it's body are called the
Cephalon,(head) the Thorax (body), and the Pygidium (tail). There are 8 Main Orders of
trilobites, …show more content…

Trilobites lived in shelf and slope environments around continental margins and in the shallow continental seas that covered areas of the earth that today are land masses. Most trilobites were bottom dwellers, although some may have been swimmers or floaters.
Some that possessed exceptionally large eyes and a large field of vision, such as
Carolinites, are thought to have been swimmers that inhabited surface waters. Others, with reduced eyes or no eyes at all, preferred deeper, darker waters. Many trilobites, such as Olenellus, burrowed into the sea bottom for protection and to seek food. Trilobites employed a variety of feeding strategies. Many plowed through mud at the bottom of oceans and seas, ingesting the sediment to sort out organic matter. Others were scavengers or predators. Most trilobites could roll themselves up into a defensive position so that only the exoskeleton was exposed. Growth of trilobites involved a process of molting caused by the growth of the body within the exoskeleton becoming too large to be contained. With the hard exoskeleton being shed periodically and a larger new one being developed. After each molting the trilobite was only covered by a flexible, chitinous shell which gradually mineralized and hardened. It has been recognized that some Trilobites evolved elaborate spiny forms during the Devonian era. It was thought at one time that this spinuosity was a

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