Geology 105 - Paleontology
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Reading Guide: Chapter 14

Know these terms:

 exoskeleton cephalon sutures
chitin pygidium  

Be able to answer these questions:

1. Fill out Critter Charts for trilobites, eurypterids, barnacles and ostracods.We'll do one for decapods in class.

2. What characteristics define the arthropods?

3. How do arthropods grow?

4. Why are arthropods limited to small body sizes?

5. Why are trilobite fossils commonly missing part or all of the cephalon?

6. Why are trilobite legs so seldom fossilized?

7. Why were eurypterids important in Paleozoic paleoecology?

8. What role did decapods play in altering the ecological structure of the sea floor (we'll do this in class)