Ever wandered what a trilobite gut looked like?

[dennilfloss]

We've known for a while but here's a new paper that documents a case where the digestive system of some trilobites was preserved via phosphatization of the soft parts.

For those here who don't know (I suspect the vast majority of nonpaleontologists) what a Lagerstätte is, it's an occurrence where fossils are exceptional in terms of either/and the sheer quantity of remains or their unusual preservation that yields details not generally observed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagerstätte

Exceptional preservation FTW!

Enjoy.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0032934

 

[FallenHero]

/thread goes over head

/drinks coffee

 

[Linflas]

Interesting stuff, I'm surprised they never found anything similar in the Burgess Shale.

 

[Number1]

/thread goes over head

/drinks coffee

:thumbsup:

 

[dennilfloss]

Interesting stuff, I'm surprised they never found anything similar in the Burgess Shale.

They did but Burgess shale material tends to be very squashed vertically as the animals were buried in mud that lost up to 90% of its vertical thickness through water expulsion during compaction and diagenesis.

Couple of examples:

http://paleobiology.si.edu/burgess/olenoides.html
http://paleobiology.si.edu/burgess/naraoia.html

More on trilobite ventral morphology, particularly appendages.

http://www.trilobites.info/trilovent.htm

 

[rivan]

Amazing - looking at the list of lagerstätte, there's one in Australia that preserved cyanobacteria in silica, approximately a BILLION years ago.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/precambrian/bittersprings.html

A billion years....:hmm: