| P number: | P550303 |
|---|---|
| Caption: | Merlinia, a 'petrified butterfly'? |
| Description: | In south Wales, around Carmarthen, 'petrified butterflies' are found in rocks of early Ordovician age (about 470 to 495 million years old). Legend tells us that these butterflies were turned to stone by the magician Merlin. There are similar tales in Swedish and in Chinese legends. The petrified butterflies are actually the remains of a trilobite called Merlinia, so named after the magician. The pygidium (tail) of Merlinia, when broken from the remainder of the body, takes on the appearance of a butterfly. Trilobites were arthropods, distant relatives of crustaceans and insect that live today. They lived in the seas of the early Cambrian and they became extinct with the mass extinction at the end of the Permian times. Trilobites are divided into three parts, the cephalon (the head, which is divided into the central glabella with two cheeks each side); the thorax (body, also divided into three and comprising a number of segments); and the pygidium (the tail, also divided into three). These animals often had well developed eyes, with many lenses made of calcite crystals, although others were blind. Some trilobites swam, most scurried about on the sea floor and yet others burrowed in to the sand on the sea floor |
| Photographer: | Unknown |
| Copyright statement: | Unknown |
| Orientation: | Landscape |
| Size: | 538.32 KB; 1000 x 790 pixels; 85 x 67 mm (print at 300 DPI); 265 x 209 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
| Categories: | Best of BGS Images/ Fossils |
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