Encyclopedia > Hyolithes

  Article Content

Hyolitha

Redirected from Hyolithes

Hyolitha are known only from the Cambrian. Conical shells with a cover (operculum[?]) and two curved supports known as Helens. The shells are calcerous and are usually triangular or elliptical in cross section. Some species have rings or striations. Most are one to four centimeters in length. Some authors treat them as molluscs, but it is generally agreed that there is no very strong argument to do so.

Despite the fact that Hyolithid shells are quite common as fossils, next to nothing is known about their ancestry and internal structures. They were obviously bottom dwellers. There is some evidence that they were carnivores.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
1904

... - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s Years: 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 - 1904 - 1905 1906 ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 27.9 ms