New information on the coaptative devices in the Ordovician trilobitesPlacopariaandCrozonaspis, and its significance for their classification and phylogeny

Abstract

Many Ordovician trilobites possess morphological structures on the cephalon, the pygidium and sometimes also on the thoracic segments, which interlock during enrolment. These coaptative devices, also known in living arthropods, are functional, inherited, and seem to remain stable at the species level. Significant evolutionary changes in coaptative devices occur throughout time within the genera Placoparia (Pliomeridae) and Crozonaspis (Dalmanitidae). New data are presented which have relevance for the details of the coaptative structures in Placoparia (Coplacoparia), and for the classification of the dalmanitid species morenensis and dujardini. In some species of Crozonaspis and in Placoparia (Coplacoparia), interlocking structures prevent the possibility of shearing between cephalon and post-cephalic exoskeleton.