Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
48
ONTARIO
VERMONT
NEW YORK
Toronto
L. Ontario
Rome
Rochester
Niagara Falls
NH
Utica
Syracuse
Buffalo
Albany
L. Erie
Ithaca
MASS.
Binghamton
CONN.
PENNSYLVANIA
Beecher's Trilobite Bed
locality
NEW
JERSEY
100 km
100 miles
New York
48 Map of New York showing the position of Beechers Trilobite Bed near Rome after Bottjer
et al., 2001.
Period. So, at the start of the Ordovician,
there were new groups of trilobites, such
as corynexochids, asaphids, and
ptychopariids, which had fewer,
determinate numbers of segments and
inhabited a wider variety of ecological
niches. They belonged to Sepkoski's
Paleozoic Fauna.
the landmark publication on the anatomy
of these animals was published not by
Beecher but by Percy Raymond
(Raymond, 1920). Nevertheless, the story
of the discovery of the bed, and how it got
its name and fame, is fascinating.
Like all arthropods, trilobites have an
external cuticle made of an organic
complex of chitin (a polysaccharide) and
arthropodin (a protein). In addition, on
the dorsal side of the body the cuticle is
impregnated with hard calcium
carbonate, like the shell of a crab or
lobster. Because the legs and other
ventral parts of the animal's anatomy are
H
ISTORY OF DISCOVERY OF
B
EECHER
S
T
RILOBITE
B
ED
Beecher's Trilobite Bed is something of a
misnomer: it was not discovered by
Charles Beecher, and although its fame is
entirely due to the trilobites it contains,
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