Talk:Trilobite
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[edit] Biramous
With respect to the limbs, is biramous the right word to use? I know it has two branches, but they are not homologous at all to those of crustacean limbs.
AFAIK. The (1959)Treatise devotes a couple of pages to 'Biramous Appendages' and I've seen the term in a fair number of other places.
[edit] Sam Gon site
Are we allowed to reference other sites? Probably we should have a link to Sam Gon's trilobite page? http://www.aloha.net/~smgon/
Yes we are, just as we can reference books. I'll add that.
N.B. I followed the link to "Trilobite Orders" and noticed a note saying that the site will be moving soon to a new domain. So I thought I'd record some notes so it can be found again, next time someone looks and finds the link broken:
The top of the page reads
A Guide to the Orders of Trilobites A site devoted to understanding trilobites created and maintained by Sam Gon III
so try searching for that. Also contains "Trilobite of the Month".
Added text from an article I originally wrote in 1998 and published on the Web.
Dlloyd 21:33, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Portions of this text are :
"Copyright © 1995-1997 The Fossil Company Ltd. © 1997-1999 The British Fossil Company Inc. and licensed by the owner under the terms of the Wikipedia copyright." Please contact me if you need further clarification on this.
Dlloyd 00:50, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Should the copyright notice be on the thumbnails on this page, or only on the separate image description pages? AnonMoos 13:10, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Trilobite Eyes
Trilobites had unique eyes, which were made of calcite (calcium carbonate, CaCO3).
How would anyone ever know what trilobite eyes were made of? I thought all we know about trilobites comes from fossils that have completely replaced the original substances of the eyes (whatever it might be) with rock. --DavidCary 01:15, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I'll try to look into this and see if I can answer your question. --DanielCD 21:38, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
The answer is, I believe, that calcite is a fairly stable material, and so under the conditions that many trilobites were preserved, there would have been no replacement of the calcite by other minerals. The optical properties of calcite in the eye is so well preserved that you can "see" through the lenses and test the visual acuity of the original creatures. Hope this helps. --DanielCD 21:48, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Trilobites' exoskeletons were preserved after death, in the fossilization processes. During this point, material was replaced with aVAILABLE PRESERVATION MATERIALS, OFTEN SILICA OR CALCITE. Some can be found using quartzite as a common material as well. In truth, we don't know what the eyes were made of, just that the material was often replaced. Some speculation has been put forward that it was calcite, but this is as of yet unproved fact (unless one were to count Niobella, that is).--??????? ??:??, ? ??? 200? (UTC)
No, DanielCD has it right -- trilobite calcite was low in magnesium and therefore highly preservable over hundreds of millions of years. The myth that all fossils are are mineral-replacements of ancient body parts is just that: a myth. Otherwise, there would be no way to do paleotemperature studies using fossil skeletal material. And even when conditions are ripe for mineral replacement of the original skeleton, quartzite is never the replacive mineral. In fact, it's not a mineral at all. Quartz, on the other hand, is a mineral, but never the replacive mineral either.--Pefty 16:33, 29 Sep 2006 (UTC)
-- Praetorbrutus
praetorbrutus@yahoo.com or,if you're looking at Trilo-Eye, catothecensor2005@yahoo.com
[edit] "Native Americans"
"The Native Americans had a name for trilobite which means "little water bug in the rocks"—a name which demonstrates extraordinary zoological acuity." This is like saying "The Asians had a name for..." --it's meaningless. Doubtless a Western North American tribe is meant. The "zoological acuity" would depend on the phrase being independent of a paleontologist saying, "and what would you call these?" Not to denigrate the zoological and botanical acuity of any of the "First Peoples." --Wetman 17:18, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Well, fix it then. --DanielCD 21:43, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)
And if you asked the paleontologist "and what would you call these?" he would probably remember that the Native Europeans had a name for trilobite which means "little thing with three lobes" - a name which demonstrates somewhat less zoological acuity - and he would use that. PAR 17:37, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
Not to denigrate the zoological and botanical acuity of any of the "First Peoples" of Europe. PAR 20:18, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Trilobite Pictures
I was reading the article for the word "Fossil" and noticed that there is a very nice picture of a fossilized trilobite, complete with its eyestalks still attached. I think that this image should replace one of the ones on the page for trilobites. What do you all think?
Here is the picture I am talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Trilobite2.jpg
[edit] Trilobite Pictures II
I added the pic mentioned above, but also changed the pic in the taxobox. The reason being that this one is really clear and shows the tripartate structure really well. Also, the pic of the trilobite in Death Valley got bumped due to space. I really didn't think it was that great anyway. If anyone wants it back, we can pull it from the history and restore it. --DanielCD 21:11, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Telson
The term "telson" is used without being defined or linked. AnonMoos 13:10, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] External links
I restored 3 of the 5 external links - I think they are useful. The guide to orders of trilobites link is already a reference, and the trilobite cookies reference is not useful. PAR 20:27, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] merger
The page of cephalon was merged with trilobite. I put a redirect to trilobites. Someone add a description of the cephalon i did it because it was a trilobite organ and it was not good to have it seperateManav 95 21:07, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
