Bulbaspis

Bulbaspis
Temporal range: Late Ordovician
B. mirabilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Subclass: Librostoma
Order: Asaphida
Suborder: Trinucleina
Family: Raphiophoridae
Subfamily: Raphiophorinae
Genus: Bulbaspis
Chugaeva, 1956
Type species
Ampyx bulbifer
Weber, 1932
Species groups[1]
  • ovulum group
    • B. lageniformis Zhou et al. 1982
    • B. ovulum Weber 1948
    • B. ordosensis Lu et al. 1976
  • bulbifer group
    • B. brevis Zhou & Zhou, 2006
    • B. bulbifer (Weber, 1932)
    • B. korlaensis Zhang, 1981
    • B. mirabilis Chugaeva, 1958
    • B. sphaerornatus Chugaeva, 1958

Bulbaspis ("bulb shield") is a late Ordovician genus of asaphid trilobites of the family Raphiophoridae found primarily in upper Ordovician-aged deepwater marine strata of Kazakhstan, China, and possibly Tasmania. Species of Bulbaspis are similar to other raphiophorids such as Ampyx and Raphiophorus, save that the long spine that emanates from the glabella of the latter two genera has been modified into a knob-like or bulb-like structure in Bulbaspis that developed incrementally in the animal's growth.[1] The function of the bulb is as yet unknown: one hypothesis suggests sexual selection may have had a role in its evolution in the genus.[2]

Individuals of B. brevis, demonstrating development of the bulb

References

  1. 1 2 Zhiqiang, Zhou, and Zhou Zhiyi. "Late Ordovician trilobites from the Zhusilenghaierhan area, Ejin Banner, western Inner Mongolia, China."MEMOIR-ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALASIAN PALAEONTOLOGISTS 32 (2006): 383.
  2. ↑ Knell, Robert J., and Richard A. Fortey. "Trilobite spines and beetle horns: sexual selection in the Palaeozoic?." Biology letters 1.2 (2005): 196-199.

See also

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