Top Posts Tagged with #walliserops

3.25" "Trident" Walliserops Trilobite

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🩷🩷🩷The Paleozoic is Pink 🩷🩷🩷

Pikaia gracilens - Parioscorpio - Hynerpeton

Conodont - Pederpes - Walliserops

Rugose Coral - Inostrancevia - Conulariid

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#art #my art #paleoart #paleontology #science #illustration #paleozoic #pikaia #pederpes #walliserops #trilobite #rugose coral #conulariid #inostrancevia #gorgonopsid #parioscorpio #hynerpeton

I bring you trilobite

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happy new year and happy new Perspectivespost.......

"You Make Several Good Points" Rhinopteraspis/Walliserops Devonian, 403 million years ago, Rheic Ocean I like Walliserops primarily for having a trident on its nose. The fact that it varied in shape and could even have four prongs indicates that the genus likely wasn't using the trident for sexual display, and might've used them to fight over mates like modern stag beetles do! This would normally be a cue to search for sexual dimorphism, but there aren't two distinct morphs of Walliserops that could be attributed to a difference in the sexes. One option is that both sexes fought over mates. Another is that dimorphism was purely cosmetic, and that there's no visible difference. I've chosen a different interpretation - the idea that males and females may have lived in different places and only congregated to breed. These ones are coming together for their once-a-year combat-and-mating session in a natural arena (made of Favosites and Pachyphyllum corals). They're interrupted by a Rhinopteraspis swimming overhead. While the Walliserops are treating it as a threat (and who wouldn't), Rhinopteraspis was a filter-feeder, using its mouthparts to expand its jawless gape and take in that sweet, sweet plankton. Although the genus has primarily been found in Europe, I wouldn't be surprised if they occasionally swam to Morocco, where the Walliserops live - the two were (and are) fairly close by in the Devonian. This is an entry in my Perspectives series! Check out #perspectives on my blog for more.

#yee art #paleoblr #palaeoblr #paleontology #nature art #ocean #perspectives #fish #paleoart #trilobite #rhinopteraspis #walliserops #trilobites #paleozoic #devonian

Strange Symmetries #06: Trilobite Tridents

The genus Walliserops was one of the weirdest-looking trilobites, covered in numerous pointy spines and sporting a large three-pronged "trident" on the front of its face.

They also had some degree of asymmetry in their bodies. Their tridents often didn't fork evenly, and their long forehead spines curved off to one side – possibly so they could lift their heads up without stabbing themselves in the back.

Walliserops hammii lived in what is now Morocco during the early-to-mid Devonian, about 403-392 million years ago. Around 5cm long (~2") It was one of the "short trident" species of Walliserops, and its chunky forehead spine curved particularly strongly to the right.

The function of these trilobites' elaborate tridents is still poorly understood. But an unusual individual of the long-tridented species Walliserops trifurcatus has been found with a lopsided four-pronged trident, and since it was able to grow to full maturity the shape of the structure probably wasn't absolutely vital for survival, suggesting it wasn't used for feeding or sensory purposes.

The tridents may instead have been used for combat with each other similar to the horns of some modern beetles. However, these sorts of features are usually only seen in males, and there's currently no definite evidence for any significant sexual dimorphism in trilobites.

(Although perhaps like ceratopsid dinosaurs their ornaments were just present in both males and females, being also useful for species recognition, visual display, and defense against predators.)

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