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  • RESEARCH BRIEFINGS

A trilobite’s last meal reveals feeding behaviour and physiology

The gut contents of a fossilized trilobite, Bohemolichas incola, from the Ordovician period (about 465 million years ago), were imaged by a technique called synchrotron microtomography and fully itemized. The results indicate that the animal fed indiscriminately on small shelly invertebrates and that its gut had a neutral to alkaline pH.

This is a summary of: Kraft, P. et al. Uniquely preserved gut contents illuminate trilobite palaeophysiology. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06567-7 (2023).

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02773-5

Figure 1 is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

References

  1. Fatka, O., Lerosey-Aubril, R., Budil, P. & Rak, Š. Bull. Geosci. 88, 95–104 (2013).

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  2. Kraft, P. & Bruthansová, J. Est. J. Earth Sci. 72, 136 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

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