I am incredibly charmed by this paper from Vannier et al.: "Collective behaviour in 480-million-year-old trilobite arthropods from Morocco" (Scientific Reports (2019) 9:14941). What the fossils in question appear to document is a mass migration of trilobites (Ampyx priscus) traveling in caravans across the seafloor in much the same manner as their contemporary relatives the spiny lobsters, who organize their own migrations in single-file, tip-to-tail chains, always maintaining antennae-contact to ensure that everyone moves in the right direction and no one gets lost, at least until everyone gets buried under a sudden wave of anoxic sediment, which seems to be what happened to this particular convoy of trilobites. The significance is that if animals were coordinating their behavior to act as groups in the Lower Ordovician, the capacity for it must have developed much earlier. The image of trundling columns of trilobites is also irresistible. I can thank the authors for introducing me to the phrase "spawning congregations," which feels distinctly Innsmouthian to me.
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Active Entries
- 1: To the green field by the sea
- 2: Make me a wreck as I come back and spare me as I'm going
- 3: Did you see the closing window? Did you hear the slamming door?
- 4: Keeping time on the kingfisher's climb
- 5: Because brick-braided alleys make steep, sleeping valleys seem level and clear
- 6: Don't look round, but I think we're taking off
- 7: Sing the praise of Alexander, he's no use to me
- 8: The hedges and fields are clothed all around with several sorts of green
- 9: Chinatown, London Underground, you know it all sounds good to me
- 10: Take us roaming in the gloaming, your Ross rifle by your side
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- Style: Classic for Refried Tablet by and
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