pinkpantherbeekeeper Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Me and my son were out playing and he found a rather large (about 3/4 inch in lenght) woodlouse. The obvious thought came across my mind about the exoskeleton similarities to trilobites. They are both arthropods but I am curious if there are any more comparisons that can be made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
painshill Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 You might also find this interesting: http://www.trilobites.info/triloimposters.htm Roger I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 (edited) Well, despite similar appearances they are in completely different clades within the Arthropoda, Mandibulata(for the Crustacea) and Arachnomorpha(for the Trilobita). They are about as closely related as spiders are to millipedes. One of the main reasons a lot of arthropods 'look' similar is that the jointed exoskeletal design has limitations; evolution often leads disparate organisms to adopt the same solution to overcome those limitations, thus they can appear similar when they are actually not. The devil is very much in the details when it comes to arthropod taxonomy. A lot of the basal arthropod phylogeny is based around how the first few segments along the jointed body plan evolved differently. As arthropods evolved 'heads' they fused the leading segments of their body and the appendages of those segments became specialized for sensing and feeding. The similarities and differences in the specialization of these first appendages is usefull for grouping the arthropods. I should also say that the basal phylogeny of the arthropods is a hotly debated subject among many researchers, however, considering that crustaceans and trilobites process(ed) food in fundamentally different ways there is little likleyhood that they will be grouped together. Still, in 2005 Edgecomb and Scholtz did just that, arguing that perhaps it would be better to group the trilobites with the mandibulata. Edited September 1, 2013 by AgrilusHunter 1 "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 PPBK, Woodlouse? Is that an eastern common name for what we here call a Silverfish? They live around moist areas of rotting logs and under rocks. Just curious, I have never heard the term Woodlouse before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 The current Arachnomorpha hypothesis is also under scrutiny with the Lamellipedian hypothesis and a long list of diagnostic characters demonstrating agnostids are actually more crustacean than trilobite-like. There is certainly a lot of information to unpack on this topic. Lamsdell et al. had this recent presentation at GSA: LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
painshill Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 PPBK, Woodlouse? Is that an eastern common name for what we here call a Silverfish? They live around moist areas of rotting logs and under rocks. Just curious, I have never heard the term Woodlouse before. No... not the same. I think you guys generally call them "pill-bugs". Roger I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 (edited) Hi caldigger, Woodlouse is a common term for the terrestrial isopods within the suborder Oniscidea, there are many many kinds of woodlice. Woodlice within the family Armadillididae can roll themselves into a ball and are commonly refered to as pill-bugs. Silverfish are actually insects! They are within the order Thysanura and are very common in California. While they inhabit similar habitats silverfish and woodlice are very different Woodlouse (Armadillididae) Silverfish (Thysanura) Edited September 1, 2013 by AgrilusHunter "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Here we have pill-bugs like the one pictured, which rolls up into a ball when threatened, but we also have what we call a sowbug or woodbug, which does not. Is it the latter which is referred to as a woodlouse, or both? I'm not sure. (Silverfish are silverfish no matter where you are, I think.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Here we have pill-bugs like the one pictured, which rolls up into a ball when threatened, but we also have what we call a sowbug or woodbug, which does not. Is it the latter which is referred to as a woodlouse, or both? I'm not sure. (Silverfish are silverfish no matter where you are, I think.) Hi Wrangellian, Yes, they would both be woodlice. More technically they are all within the suborder Oniscidea. "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Here's a rather large isopod from our Lincoln Creek Fm here in the Pacific NW. This was very difficult and time-consuming to prepare. Its probably just as well that I didn't keep track of the hours spent on it, but it has great 3-dimensional preservation with partial legs showing on the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regg Cato Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 HOley ... ...yeah that's all I got to say about that :| amazing find though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Here's a rather large isopod from our Lincoln Creek Fm here in the Pacific NW. This was very difficult and time-consuming to prepare. Its probably just as well that I didn't keep track of the hours spent on it, but it has great 3-dimensional preservation with partial legs showing on the back. Hi Bruce, Spectacular and it looks better than all the described specimens.... Congrats on the incredible prep and addition to your collection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpantherbeekeeper Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 You might also find this interesting: http://www.trilobites.info/triloimposters.htm Thanks painshill. I learned what I have been seeing under rocks in the creek which appear to be water pennies. PPBK, Woodlouse? Is that an eastern common name for what we here call a Silverfish? They live around moist areas of rotting logs and under rocks. Just curious, I have never heard the term Woodlouse before. I only knew they are called woodlice because I did a report (about trees) that included them, back in college. Pill bugs, rolly polly, and sow bugs are what I have called them. Thanks ArgilusHunter. Good explanation for me. Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpantherbeekeeper Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Here's a rather large isopod from our Lincoln Creek Fm here in the Pacific NW. This was very difficult and time-consuming to prepare. Its probably just as well that I didn't keep track of the hours spent on it, but it has great 3-dimensional preservation with partial legs showing on the back. Holy cow that is huge!!! Definitely cool!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Hi Bruce, Wow, that is a stunning Isopod! CSerious congrats on the amazing, museum quality, fossil! "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Hey, Thanks for all the complements. Its always nice to get a pat on the back! Here's what the underside looked like. I started to do a little prep on it, but it didn't look like it would hold together, so I quit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Nice fossil isopod! The round ball in my son's hand in my avatar pic is a large rolled up terrestrial woodlouse found in the Vietnamese jungle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Wow, great Isopod, Bruce! And now we finally find out what that is in Scylla's avatar... Wow also! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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