Research

Trilobites: Systematics, Ontogeny and Biogeography

Current research on trilobites by Greg Edgecombe and co-workers mostly focuses on Middle and Upper Ordovician diversity from Tasmania, New South Wales and Argentina.

Contact: Dr Gregory D. Edgecombe

Australian Trilobites: A Species List and Bibliography
This list summarises the classification and species-level diversity of Trilobita in Australia.

Silicified faunas from the Precordillera of San Juan and La Rioja, Argentina, have been the subject of a series of papers by Edgecombe in collaboration with Prof Brian Chatterton (University of Alberta, Canada), Drs Beatriz Waisfeld and Emilio Vaccari (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina). Silicification preserves a detailed record of larval and juvenile morphology for many groups of trilobites.

Recent Australian Museum Publications on Trilobites

• Chatterton, B.D.E., Edgecombe, G.D., Vaccari, N.E. and Waisfeld, B.G. 1999. Ontogenies of some Ordovician Telephinidae from Argentina, and larval patterns in the Proetida (Trilobita). Journal of Paleontology, 73:219-239.
• Ebach, M.C. and Edgecombe, G.D. 1999. The Devonian trilobite Cordania from Australia. Journal of Paleontology, 73:431-436.
• Edgecombe, G.D., Banks, M.R. and Banks, D.M. 1999. Upper Ordovician Phacopida (Trilobita) from Tasmania. Alcheringa, 23:235-257 (1.4mb PDF).
• Edgecombe, G.D., Chatterton, B.D.E., Vaccari, N.E. and Waisfeld, B.G. 1999. Ordovician cheirurid trilobites from the Argentine Precordillera. Journal of Paleontology, 73:1155-1175.
• Edgecombe, G.D., Chatterton, B.D.E., Waisfeld, B.G. and Vaccari, N.E. 1999. Ordovician pliomerid and prosopiscid trilobites from Argentina. Journal of Paleontology, 73:1144-1154 (592kb PDF with permission of the Paleontological Society).
• Edgecombe, G.D., and L. Ramsköld. 1999. Relationships of Cambrian Arachnata and the systematic position of Trilobita. Journal of Paleontology, 73:263-287 (1.9mb PDF with permission of the Paleontological Society).
• Edgecombe, G.D. 2000. Trilobites, p. 203-205. In J.A. Talent et al. Devonian palaeobiogeography of Australia and adjoining regions. In A.J. Wright, J.A. Talent, G.C. Young, and J.R. Laurie (eds.), Palaeobiogeography of Australasian faunas and floras. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Memoir 23.
• Edgecombe, G.D., and Fortey, R.A. 2000. Silurian trilobites from the El Carmen Formation, Bolivia. Senckenbergiana lethaea, 79:329-355.
• Webby, B.D. and Edgecombe, G.D. 2000. Trilobites, p. 81-86. In B.D. Webby et al. Ordovician biogeography of Australasia. In A.J. Wright, J.A. Talent, G.C. Young, and J.R. Laurie (eds.), Palaeobiogeography of Australasian faunas and floras. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Memoir 23.
• Ebach, M.C., and Edgecombe, G.D. 2001. Cladistic biogeography: component-based methods and paleontological application, p. 235-289. In J.M. Adrain, G.D. Edgecombe, and B.S. Lieberman (eds.), Fossils, Phylogeny, and Form: An Analytical Approach. Kluwer/Plenum, New York.
• Edgecombe, G.D. and Sherwin, L. 2001. Early Silurian (Llandovery) trilobites from the Cotton Formation, near Forbes, New South Wales, Australia. Alcheringa, 25:87-105 (1.2mb PDF).
• Waisfeld, B.G., Vaccari, N.E., Chatterton, B.D.E. and Edgecombe, G.D. 2001. Systematics of Shumardiidae (Trilobita), with species from the Ordovician of Argentina. Journal of Paleontology, 75:827-859 (3mb PDF with permission of the Paleontological Society).
• Carvalho, M. da G.P., Edgecombe, G.D. and Smith, L. 2003. New calmoniid trilobites (Phacopina: Acastoidea) from the Devonian of Bolivia. American Museum Novitates, 3407:1-17.
• Edgecombe, G.D., and Wright, A.J., 2004. Silicified Early Devonian trilobites from Brogans Creek, New South Wales. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 125:177-188. (608 kb PDF)
• Edgecombe, G.D., Banks, M.R. and Banks, D.M. 2004. Late Ordovician trilobites from Tasmania: Styginidae, Asaphidae and Lichidae. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 30:57-99 (2.2mb PDF).
• Edgecombe, G.D., Webby, B.D. and Laurie, J.R. 2004. Regional patterns in Australia and New Zealand, p. 239-242. In J.M. Adrain et al. Trilobites. In B.D. Webby, F. Paris, M.L. Droser and I. Percival (eds.), The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. Columbia University Press.
• Edgecombe, G.D., Chatterton, B.D.E., Vaccari, N.E. and Waisfeld, B.G. 2005. Triarthrinid trilobites (Olenidae) from the Middle and Upper Ordovician, Precordillera of Argentina. Journal of Paleontology, 79:89-109.
• Scholtz, G., and G.D. Edgecombe. 2005. Heads, Hox and the phylogenetic position of trilobites. In S. Koenemann and R. Jenner (eds.), Crustacea and Arthropod Relationships. Crustacean Issues, 16:139-165 (1.2mb PDF).

Arthropod Fossils and Phylogeny (G. D. Edgecombe, editor) is available from Columbia University Press (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup).

Figures:

Odontopleura (Sinespinaspis) markhami Edgecombe and Sherwin, 2001 from the Lower Silurian near Forbes, New South Wales.

Eokosovopeltis grandicurvatus Edgecombe et al., 2004 from the Upper Ordovician, Florentine Valley and Ida Bay, Tasmania.

Upper Ordovician trilobites from Tasmania. Reconstructions by Alan Lam, with permission of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists.

From left to right: Basiliella choii Edgecombe et al., 2004 [Asaphidae], Pliomerina trisulcata Edgecombe et al., 1999 [Pliomeridae], Ceraurinella oepiki Edgecombe et al., 1999 [Cheiruridae]

These papers are available in PDF format. The FREE Acrobat Reader is required.

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