Recently, Sun Zhixin, Ph.D. Zeng Han, a master's student of the Cambrian Outbreak Research Team of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhao Fangchen, a researcher, systematically studied a special trilobite of a class of cambords in the mid-Cambrian mantou group in North China, providing an important case for exploring the morphology and specialization of the head shell of cambrian trilobites. Due to the special head contour of this trilobite, it is named "ear-shaped fantasia". The research results were published in the Polish Journal of Paleontology.
The head of The Fantasia is narrow and long, nearly half the length of the total length of the dorsal shell; the anterior saddle area is elongated forward, with a notch in the middle, so that the front part of the head cover resembles a pair of "rabbit ears"; due to the special head shape, the movable cheeks are specialized into a machete with a flat side edge. These features, along with their peculiar eye ridge and head saddle features, made Fantasia different from other trilobites of the contemporaneous period, becoming a new member of the Cambrian trilobite family and a rare group of head specializations within the fold-cheeked insect family.
Although the head specialization of some trilobites is associated with their habit of digging sediments, the characteristics of Fantesea do not exactly match. Since the front edge structure, which is generally used to reinforce the head cover, has been degraded in the vantage, and the mechanical properties of the irregular shape are not more stable than the semicircle, this indicates that the vantagenet specialization of the skullcap is not strong; compared with other trilobites in the same layer, the front part of most of the vantishia skull cover has been damaged and broken, which confirms the view that "the durability of the head cap is even inferior to that of the semicircular head cap of the normal trilobite". Therefore, the unique shape of Fantasia may be related to other factors such as predation and confusion of predators.
The researchers found through ontogenetic specimens that the development and stable head contour of Fantasia dovetailed more closely with its early adulthood, suggesting that this specialization may be related to sexual selection rather than being influenced solely by life strategies. (According to China Science Daily)
Source: Hohhot Daily