The type species of the ordovician trilobite symphysurus: systematics, functional morphology and terrace ridges

Abstract

The type of the widespread Ordovician trilobite Symphysurus, S. palpebrosus Dalman, 1827, is redescribed from the type Swedish material; its distribution is documented. Symphysurus is one of very few trilobite genera to be found in both Ordovician Baltica and Gondwana, in more peripheral sites relative to the platform areas. S. palpebrosus has complex coaptative devices to ensure tight enrollment. Analysis of the functional morphology shows that it spent at least part of its life with thorax and pygidium buried in the sediment in the bumastoid stance, although it may have fed outside its burrow. Terrace ridges are well developed on certain parts of the cuticle; their positioning and geometry shows that only a few of them could have functioned in direct engagement with the sediment. Those associated with petaloid thoracic facets may have permitted respiration in the enrolled condition. © 1986 E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.