EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE

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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca
Cephalopods
Chambered Nautilus
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca
Cephalopods
Chambered Nautilus Internal Chambers Simple
Suture Pattern
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca
Cephalopods
Ammonoid Cephalopod Complex Suture Pattern
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca The Cephalopod Eye
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca

• Gastropods
• Shell and viscera twisted 180 above foot
  ("Torsion")
• Shell grows in asymmetrical spiral ("Lateral
  Coiling")
• Radula changes form and function in different
  lineages
• scraping plants
• grazing on plants
• scavenging animals
• hunting animals
• Early Cambrian to Recent

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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca Gastropods
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca Gastropods
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Mollusca

• Chitons
• Ancestor is flattened, elongated
• Mantle and shell dominate head, foot
• Mantle produces shell in 8 plates
• Radula scrapes encrusting vegetation
• Late Cambrian to Recent

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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Arthropoda
Very large phylum Chitinous, external
skeleton Segmented body Paired and jointed
appendages Highly developed nervous system
sensory organs
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Arthropoda
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Arthropoda Trilobites
Swimming or crawling arthropods Three
longitudinal segments 2 pleural lobes, axial
lobe cephalon, (head), thorax,
and pygidium (tail) Flexible skeleton chitin and
CaCO3 Complex eye Early Cambrian to late
Devonian extinct at Permian
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Arthropoda Trilobites
Eye structure
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Arthropoda Ostracodes
Look like beans Segmented body enclosed in
CaCO3 and chitin carapace Marine and
freshwater Useful in biostratigraphy Early
Cambrian to Recent
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Arthropoda Eurypterids
Swimming or crawling arthropods Some up to 3 m
in length Ordovician to Permian Mostly Silurian
and Devonian
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata
Spiny-skinned animals Starfish, sea urchins
sea lilies 5 part, radial symmetry Endoskeleton
CaCO3 plates Water vascular system tube
feet
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata
Sessile, benthonic forms common in
Paleozoic Vagrant, benthonic forms common in
Mesozoic and Cenozoic
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata Asteroidea
Starfish Ordovician to Recent
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata Ophiuroidea
Brittle Stars Ordovician to Recent
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata Echinoidea
Sea Urchins Early Cambrian to Recent
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata Crinoidea
Crinoids Middle Cambrian to Recent
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Echinodermata Blastoidea
Blastoids Early Cambrian to Permian
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Graptolithina (Graptolites)
Marine Planktonic or epiplanktonic Sessile
benthonic Chitin skeleton Cambrian to
Mississippian?
Good index fossil for Ord-Sil
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Metazoan Invertebrates
Graptolithina (Graptolites)
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Fish
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Cambrian to Recent
Fish Agnatha (Agnathids) Jawless fish
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Fish Agnatha (Agnathids) Jawless fish
Astrapis
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Fish Acanthodii (Acanthodians) Early jawed
fish Late Silurian to Permian
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Fish Placodermi (Placoderms) Plate-skinned fishes
Late Silurian to Permian
Bothryolepis
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Fish Placodermi (Placoderms)
Dunkleosteus
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Conodonts Chordate Resemble teeth Proterozoic to
Triassic Calcium phosphate
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Conodonts
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EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE
Vertebrates
Conodonts