Trilobites were a group of marine animals with crescent-shaped heads that resembled horseshoe crabs. And according to a new study, they breathed through their paws, with gill-like structures hanging from their thighs.
This means we are looking at the first evidence of sophisticated respiratory organs in 450-million-year-old sea creatures.
First high precision scan
The research was possible, in part, because of unusually preserved fossil specimens. More than 22,000 species of trilobite have been discovered, but the soft parts of the animals are visible in only about two dozen. According to the UCR geology professor and co-author of the article, Nigel Hughes:
These were preserved in pyrite, fool's gold, but it is more important than gold to us, because it is key to understanding these ancient structures.
A CT scanner was able to read density differences between the pyrite and the surrounding rock and helped create three-dimensional models of these rarely seen gill structures. This allowed the fossil to be viewed without having to drill and polish much of the rock covering the specimen..
According to the paleontologist Melanie Hopkins, member of the research team at the American Museum of Natural History:
This way we could get a view that would even be difficult to see with a microscope: really small trilobite anatomical structures on the order of 10 to 30 microns wide.
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The news
Trilobites breathed through their legs, with gill-like structures hanging from their thighs.
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.