Trilobite Assemblage Of Calceola - Bearing Beds In Acanthopyge Limestone (Choteč Formation, Middle Devonian, Eifelian, Prague Basin, The Czech Republic)
Author
Budil, Petr
Author
Mergl, Michal
text
Fossil Imprint
2019
2019-08-29
75
1
79
91
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/if-2019-0007
journal article
10.2478/if-2019-0007
2533-4069
5383369
Chotecops
cf.
hoseri
(
HAWLE
et CORDA, 1847)
Text-fig. 3a–f
M a t e r i a l. Eight incomplete cephala, six pygidia, numerous isolated fragments of cephala, pygidia and thoracic segments, two incomplete cheeks with preserved visual surface of the eye. Internal moulds and their counterparts, twenty five total remnants.
R e m a r k s. Preservation of even the best-preserved remains of phacopid exoskeletons does not allow positive determination of material to the species level, but it shares most features with
Chotecops hoseri
(
HAWLE et CORDA, 1847
)
. The angle of divergence in axial furrows is, however, slightly larger in the studied material (67°), but this value is barely larger than the upper limit of the variation range (60–65°) previously known in this species (
Chlupáč 1977: 53
); this feature may have also been slightly affected by deformation. In the studied samples, the maximal number of lenses in the dorso-ventral row of the eye reaches 6 (5) ommatidia (in two young holaspid specimens, see
Text-fig. 3d
and younger unfigured specimen CGS MM 575), which fits well with description of
Chotecops hoseri
by
Chlupáč (1977: 53)
. A lesser maximal number of ommatidia in a dorso-ventral row in the younger specimen can be explained by its early ontogenetic stage. In the largest specimen, the number of dorso-ventral rows in an eye is 17, and some are clearly missing (broken off). Following
Chlupáč (1977)
, specimens of
Chotecops hoseri
should reach 18 dorsoventral rows. Pygidia correspond with
C
.
hoseri
in number of ribs (4–5, 6 in large specimens only; see
Chlupáč 1977
)), by their PL/PW ratios, and by prominent effacement of pleural furrows, except for the first one (two) pairs. The exact number of axial rings in studied specimens remains unknown because of poor preservation, but certainly exceeds four well-expressed rings. The studied remains differ from
Chotecops auspex
CHLUPÁČ, 1971
, also rarely occurring in the
Acanthopyge Limestone
(
Chlupáč 1971
,
1977
, 1983), in having slightly larger eyes with more dorsoventral files of ommatidia, and by better expressed pygidial segmentation (much effaced in
C
.
auspex
). However, the observed angle of divergence in cephalic axial furrows fits better to the latter-mentioned species.