Trilobite tridents demonstrate sexual combat at 400 Mya

The Devonian trilobite carries a remarkable anterior cephalic trident posing a challenge to functional interpretation. A unique teratological specimen of showing four, rather than three tines, is inconsistent with possible hypotheses connecting the trident to feeding techniques and suggests a sexual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2023-01, Vol.120 (4), p.e2119970120
Main Authors: Gishlick, Alan D, Fortey, Richard A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Arthropods
Biological Sciences
Body Weights and Measures
Coleoptera
Devonian
Fossils
Hypotheses
Physical Sciences
Sexual dimorphism
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Summary:The Devonian trilobite carries a remarkable anterior cephalic trident posing a challenge to functional interpretation. A unique teratological specimen of showing four, rather than three tines, is inconsistent with possible hypotheses connecting the trident to feeding techniques and suggests a sexually selected function. Malformations in a variety of living organisms support this conclusion. Morphometric comparisons to similar structures used for intraspecific combat in dynastine beetles show that the trident occupies a comparable shape space consistent with the hypothesis that it was a sexual combat weapon, the oldest reported example of its kind. This lends further credibility to the idea that some trilobites may have been strongly sexually dimorphic.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2119970120