TRILOBITE PAPERS 7
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CONTENT * Editorial* Status of Solenopleura Adrian Rushton * A century ago-1895 by Gerd Geyer * Trilobites on the Web by Kevin Brett * Neobaroque trilobites by Ivo Chlupac * Trilobite Treatise update by Richard Fortey * Trilobites and creationism by Brian Pratt * Future of trilobites by John Clavin * E.S. Cobbold (1851-1936) by Adrian Rushton * Trilobite systematics by Steve Westrop * Upper Miss. Valley asaphids by Bob Sloan * Fossil preparation manual * Gondwana Cambrian standard by Ed Landing * 50 research reports |
COMPLETE TRILOBITE PAPERS 7
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Trilobites as Neobaroque Ceiling Decorations
Irena Jancarikova & Ivo Chlupac
Charles University, Prague
The town of Beroun is located about 30 km southwest of Prague in the center of the classic Barrandian area of central Bohemia. This region has had a long-standing tradition of trilobite collecting that dates, at least, from the time of Joachim Barrande in the middle of the last century and which survives today in a modified form. In TP-5 we showed that this tradition extended to functional objects such as gingerbread molds.
The tradition is differently expressed in the elaborate neobaroque decoration of the ceiling of the ceremony room in Beroun’s town hall. Plaster reliefs of six different types of local trilobites with maximum length of 40 cm constitute the leading motif.
The ceiling was the work of the sculptor Vilem Amort, a native of Beroun. It was installed in 1902 when the town hall, which dates from the 16th century, was restored and partially rebuilt. Because Amort knew little about fossils, the idea to incorporate trilobites probably came from the famous fossil collector Martin Busl who was well-known among Czech geologists and paleontologists at the time. The trilobites Dusl selected for the ceiling all belong to types that are found in the vicinity of Beroun.
A. A calymenid probably based on Flexicalymene incerta (Barrande, 1846) from the Zahorany Formation (Caradocian) near Beroun.
B. An odontopleurid based on Selenopeltis inermis (Beyrich, 1846). This plaster relief appears to have been modelled on an actual specimen. It shows only 8 thoracic segments instead of 9 and the pygidium is missing. Similar specimens occur in the Zahorany Formation (Caradocian) near Beroun.
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Trilobite Systematics: Into the Next Millennium
Steve Westrop
In the late ‘70s, biosystematics went through a lively and, at times, bitter debate over methodology. Systematic Zoology, which was the main forum for discussion, became one of the more interesting and thought-provoking journals during this period. When the dust settled, cladistics had emerged as the method of choice in biological systematics. Current issues of the renamed Systematic Biology show that thee is still plenty of discussion, but the debate now centers on aspects of cladistic methodology. The argument over the relative merit of phenetics, evolutionary systematics and cladistics has essntially disappeared. The signs of the transformation are everywhere: new textbooks in invertebrate zoology are full of cladograms and even the latest edition of the classic text by Barnes presents its discussion of invertebrate evolution cladistically.
Perhaps the most profound impact has been on vertebrate paleontology, which has essentially undergone a complete paradigm shift in the last 5 years. The landmark volume by Weishampel et al. (The Dinosauria, 1991) is an explicit attempt to examine the relationships of the various dinosaur groups in the context of phylogenetic systematics. The recent Paleontological Short Course, "Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution" demonstrates that all other groups, from stem-chordates to mammals, are now being treated cladistically.
To what extent has this upheaval in taxonomic practice impacted on trilobite studies? Sadly, the answer seems to be very little. There is now a vigorous school of Siluro-Devonian cladists (Edgecombe, Chatterton, Ramskold, Adrain) and several other workers have published at least one parsimony analysis. Attemtps to redefine the suborder Asaphina by Fortey and Chatterton and to understand the relationship of early arthropods in general by Briggs and Fortey have also taken the cladistic route. However, in general, trilobite workers seem to have avoided the soul-searching of the 1970s. It appears to have been a case of "business as usual" for the last 20 years. I think that it is about time that we all took a long, hard look at the way in which trilobite systematics is being done in the 1990s. Such a review is particularly appropriate in light of the current revision of the Trilobite Treatise. If the history of the previous incarnation is any indication, the new Treatise will be the standard reference for trilobite systematics through the rest of the careers of most of the current readership of The Trilobite Papers. We should make sure that we do the job right.
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