ENGLISH SYSTEMATIC INVERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY COLLECTION INFORMATION SHEET 2 (CASES 226-245) Fossils are the remains of organisms (animals and plants) that lived millions of years ago. The preserved remains of these organisms' activities are known as trace fossils, some examples being dinosaur footprints (giving evidence of their locomotion) and animal droppings, called coprolites (yielding evidence of their digestion). This information sheet describes some of the most common, well-known fossil invertebrates in the fossil record held in the Systematic Invertebrate Palaeontology Collection.

CASE 226 CASE 227 CASE 229 CASE 234 CASE 236 PORIFERA (SPONGES) CNIDARIA (CORALS) ARTHROPODS: TRILOBITES MOLLUSCS: BIVALVES MOLLUSCS: CEPHALOPODS (NAUTILOIDS AND COLEOIDS)

Sponges. are aquatic invertebrates The Cnidaria form a very diverse Trilobites are the best known fos- Bivalves are aquatic molluscs with The cephalopods (fromcephalos , that live attached to the sea floor. group of invertebrates that inclu- sils from the Palaeozoic. They were an external shell composed of two meaning head, andpodos , mea- The name Porifera comes from the des jellyfish, anemones and co- very primitive marine arthropods valves. They present a wide range ning feet) are the largest and most Latinporus , meaning pore, and fe- rals. These two specimens corres- that eventually colonised almost of shapes, sizes and environmen- intelligent of the molluscs. ro, meaning to carry or bear, since pond to a solitary, conical coral, all ecological niches, and survived tal adaptations. Some could swim, Nautiloids have an external, spiral the body contains a system of chan- and a more typical colony of corals. for almost 300 million years. The such as Aequipecten opercularis, shell. They are known from the nels connected by pores. Sponges Since the Early Palaeozoic, corals name “trilobite” alludes to the propelling themselves freely Cambrian to the present. Fossil co- were not considered animals until have contributed to the formation lengthwise and widthwise division through the water. Fossils have leoids usually have a straight inter- the 18th century, when the water of rocks, especially in reef environ- of the body into three lobes. Fossils been found dating back to the nal shell with a pointed end. flow through their bodies was des- ments. They are known from befo- of the traces of movement that Cambrian and there are currently Although there are living represen- cribed. They are known from the re the Cambrian to the present. they left on seabed sediments are about 100,000 species, rendering tatives, they were much more abun- Cambrian (about 540 million years known by the name ofCruziana . bivalves the second largest group dant in the past, particularly the or- ago) to the present. Solitary coral: Zaphrentis roemeri. of molluscs after the gastropods. der known as the belemnites (see Middle Devonian (390 million Flexicalymene ouzregui. the specimen ofPassaloteuthis ). Jerea sp. years ago). Ordovician (460 million years ago). Aequipecten opercularis. Late Cretaceous (90 million Uad Uein Terguet (Sahara). Morocco. Pliocene (3 million years ago). Nautiloid: Aturia aturi. years ago). Maximum dimension: 13 cm. Maximum dimension: 7.5 cm. Italy, Miocene (15 million years ago). Indre et Loire (France). Maximum dimension: 7.5 cm. Puglia (Italy). Colonial coral: Spongophyllum Maximum dimension: 2.5 cm. Maximum dimension: 8 cm. profunda. Middle Devonian (390 million Coleoid: Passaloteuthis paxillosus. years ago). Early Jurassic (180 million years ago). Wallers (France). Meude (France). Maximum dimension: 7 cm. Maximum dimension: 11 cm. eo Geominero Instituto Geológico y Minero de España ENGLISH SYSTEMATIC INVERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY COLLECTION INFORMATION SHEET 2 (CASES 226-245)

CASE 237 CASE 240 CASE 241 CASE 242 CASE 245 MOLLUSCS: CEPHALOPODS MOLLUSCS: GASTROPODS BRACHIOPODS ECHINODERMS: ECHINOZOANS FOSSILISATION (AMMONOIDS)

The ammonites are perhaps the The gastropods are one of the The brachiopods are invertebra- The echinoderms (fromechinos , Fossilisation is a process that pre- best known fossil invertebrates most diversified groups of inverte- tes with a shell composed of two meaning spine, anddermos , mea- serves remains. The probability of from the Mesozoic. The name co- brates known, second only to the in- valves that are symmetrical in rela- ning skin) are marine organisms an organism being fossilised is mes from the Egyptian god Amun, sects. Most gastropods have an ex- tion to a plane that is perpendicu- that include sea urchins, sea very low, because animal remains who was typically depicted wearing ternal shell, although a few, such lar to the opening of the same. stars, crinoids, brittle stars and usually decompose after death. ram's horns, which are reminis- as slugs, do not. Over the course of They live on the seabed in groups sea cucumbers. Sea urchins, or This is why fossils are so valuable. cent of these molluscs' planispiral geological time, they became in- containing several individuals. echinozoans, were studied by Sometimes, skeletal parts are re- shell. These marine animals pre- creasingly diverse, reaching maxi- Fossil brachiopods represent ap- Aristotle, and hence the mastica- placed by iron sulphides such as sented wide morphological diver- mum diversity in the present. They proximately 95% of the total, as tory apparatus of these animals pyrite or marcasite. Such was the sity, and are known from the Early are known from the Cambrian to more than 4500 genera have has been named “Aristotle's lan- case of the specimen on display, Devonian (416 million years ago) the present. been described, of which only tern” in his honour. They are where the calcium carbonate of to the Late Cretaceous (65 million about 120 are extant today. known from the Ordovician to the the shell was replaced by an iron years ago). Turritella terebrallata. present. ore. Eocene (45 million years ago). Morrisithyris phillipsii. Stephanoceras humphriesianus. Chamount (France). Middle Jurassic (170 million Echinozoa: Echinolampas affinis. Ammonoidea gen. indet. Middle Jurassic (170 million Maximum dimension: 6.5 cm. years ago). Eocene (40 million years ago). Jurassic (170 million years ago). years ago). Port-en-Bessin (France). Courtignon (France). Russia. France. Maximum dimension: 4.5 cm. Maximum dimension: 5 cm. Maximum dimension: 7 cm. Maximum dimension: 15 cm.