Understanding locomotion in trilobites by means of three-dimensional models

Jorge Esteve; Pedro Rubio

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107512

Understanding locomotion in trilobites by means of three-dimensional models

iScience. 2023 Jul 31;26(9):107512. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107512. eCollection 2023 Sep 15.

Authors

Jorge Esteve¹, Pedro Rubio²

Affiliations

¹ Área de Paleontología, Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología Facultad de CC. Geológicas, UCM, José Antonio Nováis, 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
² Burashi S.L., Avda. M Zambrano 24 - 6B, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain.

Abstract

Trilobites were one of the first animals on Earth to leave their imprints on the seafloor. Such imprints represent behavioral traces related to feeding or protection, in both cases implying different types of locomotion. Modeling how trilobites moved is essential to understand their evolutionary history and ecological impact on marine substrates. Herein, locomotion in trilobites is approached by means of three-dimensional models, which yielded two main gait types. These two gaits reflect basic behaviors: burrowing and walking. This model reveals that trilobites could change their gait and consequently increase rapidly their speed varying the amplitude of the metachronal wave, a change independent from their biological structure. Fast increases in speed enhanced the protection of trilobites against predators and sudden environmental crises. The trilobite body pattern constrained their gaits, controlled by the distance between the pair of legs and between legs in a same segment.

Keywords: Computational bioinformatics; Paleontology; Wildlife behavior.