Trilobites are an extinct class of marine arthropods that appeared on Earth in the early Cambrian.
In the new work, scientists studied severalhundreds of body imprints of trilobites of the species Triarthrus eatoni in order to create a detailed description of their structure, since not enough was known about this previously.
It turned out that the limbs of these trilobites were covered with feather-like and dumbbell-shaped outgrowths, which were similar to the gills of modern horseshoe crabs, spiny lobsters and some other invertebrates.
According to biologists, trilobites could have gill structures in the upper extremities, with the help of which they breathed.
It is not yet clear how trilobites protected their gills from damage and pollution. The authors hope that it will be possible to find out in the course of further research.
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