ANRV309-EA35-14 ARI 20 March 2007 15:54 The Evolution of Trilobite Body Patterning Nigel C. Hughes Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521; email:
[email protected] Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 2007. 35:401–34 Key Words First published online as a Review in Advance on Trilobita, trilobitomorph, segmentation, Cambrian, Ordovician, January 29, 2007 diversification, body plan The Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences is online at earth.annualreviews.org Abstract This article’s doi: The good fossil record of trilobite exoskeletal anatomy and on- 10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140258 togeny, coupled with information on their nonbiomineralized tis- Copyright c 2007 by Annual Reviews. sues, permits analysis of how the trilobite body was organized and All rights reserved developed, and the various evolutionary modifications of such pat- 0084-6597/07/0530-0401$20.00 terning within the group. In several respects trilobite development and form appears comparable with that which may have charac- terized the ancestor of most or all euarthropods, giving studies of trilobite body organization special relevance in the light of recent advances in the understanding of arthropod evolution and devel- opment. The Cambrian diversification of trilobites displayed mod- Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 2007.35:401-434. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org ifications in the patterning of the trunk region comparable with by UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE LIBRARY on 05/02/07. For personal use only. those seen among the closest relatives of Trilobita. In contrast, the Ordovician diversification of trilobites, although contributing greatly to the overall diversity within the clade, did so within a nar- rower range of trunk conditions.