Jimmy Ibarra

BIOL 366 – Paleobiology

Lab Write Up
PALEOZOIC
The first era of the Phanerozoic eon began about 565 million years ago, starting with the
Cambrian period and ended with the Permian period about 250 million years ago. Around this
time an “explosion” of new life took place that brought about many of today’s phylum especially
marine life. From the fossil records we have been able to identify many different classes or
organisms such as the Trilobites, Brachiopods, Sponges Bivalves, Gastropods, Bryozoans,
Cnidarians, Echinoderms, Cephalopods (i.e. Nautiloidea and Ammonoidea), Ostracods, and even
Merostromata. Of all these the most dominant life forms were Trilobites. When examining
trilobite fossils form the Paleozoic it is very clear that they were segmented organisms. They
were symmetrical organisms with lateral segmentations running throughout their bodies. The
fossils were preserved well enough to differentiate between the segmentations. Some other
features such as eyespots and mouthparts were also somewhat visible in the fossils. The
nautiloids, which belong to a class of cephalopods, were also prevalent during the Paleozoic.
They had a long straight exterior shell. In the fossils examined the shells were actually curled in;
they also had suture patterns throughout the shells that could be used to better differentiate
between the different species of nautiloids. Another class of cephalopods are the ammonites.
Their fossils records are similar to that of the nautiloids. Like the nautiloids they have suture
patterns on their shells, which also happen to be curled up, however this is a more natural shape
for the ammonites. Their fossil records also show that they have chamber, which was supposed
to contain a siphuncle.
The bivalve fossils were also rather large when compare to present day bivalves, however
there were also small bivalves present. The most common species of bivalve include clams and
oysters, which is indicatory of their overall shapes from one species to another. Bivalves share a
superficial resemblance to another Paleozoic organism, the Brachiopods. Brachiopod fossil
shells, unlike bivalves that have a left and right arrangement, have a top and bottom arrangement
of the their shells. In some of the Brachiopod fossils the pedicle, which they used to anchor
themselves to a substrate, was still discernable. One of the brachiopod fossils even had a spiked
shell, which is an interesting characteristic.
The Ostracod fossils are interesting in hat they are supposed to be similar to shrimp
except they are encased by two valves, thus resembling a clam. In one Paleozoic fossils
examined the Ostracods were found to be fossilized in a group. In another fossil from the same
period the shrimp-like organism was visible. The mandibles were also visible in the fossil.
The Bryozoans, an invertebrate organism, were also common in the Paleozoic. One of the
Paleozoic Bryozoans examined had a corkscrew shape to them, this was different form another
species of Bryozoans, also from the Paleozoic, which were found in a colony growing on a rather
large round shell. These didn’t appear to be as large as the corkscrew bryozoans but they were
also long and skinny in shape, as well as chambered.
 Representing the Echinoderms of the Paleozoic are the crinoids, also known as sea lilies.
The basic morphology of crinoids includes a stem, which is s long ligamentary structure. In the
Paleozoic fossils this stem is clearly visible. They are long structures with segmentations. One of
the fossils was rather large in diameter in comparison to the other rather thin examples. This
large crinoid, aside from its bigger size, also had some bumps present on the surface of the stem.
The gastropods that were present during the Paleozoic were rather small in size with both
coiled and spiraled shells as evidenced by the examined fossils. However also present was a
large gastropod shell with a coiled shape, this is evidence that large gastropods may also have
been present at the time but in more limited numbers compared to the smaller gastropods.
Making up the Cnidarian population during the Paleozoic were the coral