Larvy trilobitů

Trilobite larvae – will they help to understand the changes in the global ecosystem? by Lukáš Laibl.

Trilobites, like today’s arthropods, often had multiple life-cycle. While the adults were mostly benthic, their larvae may have been benthic or planktonic. The shape of the smallest larvae (called protaspis) mostly reflected their life-cycle strategy. Throughout geological history a great ordovician extinction affected trilobites and other animals, too. It is almost certain that the trilobites with planktonic larvae were more prone to extinction than the ones with benthic larvae.