Were all trilobites fully marine? Trilobite expansion into brackish water during the early Palaeozoic

Abstract

Trilobites, key components of early Palaeozoic communities, are considered to have been invariably fully marine. Through the integration of ichnological, palaeobiological, and sedimentological datasets within a sequence-stratigraphical framework, we challenge this assumption. Here, we report uncontroversial trace and body fossil evidence of their presence in brackish-water settings. Our approach allows tracking of some trilobite groups foraying into tide-dominated estuaries. These trilobites were tolerant to salinity stress and able to make use of the ecological advantages offered by marginal-marine environments migrating up-estuary, following salt wedges either reflecting amphidromy or as euryhaline marine wanderers. Our data indicate two attempts of landward exploration via brackish water: phase 1 in which the outer portion of estuaries were colonized by olenids (Furongian–early late Tremadocian) and phase 2 involving exploration of the inner to middle estuarine zones by asaphids (Dapingian–Darriwilian). This study indicates that tolerance to salinity stress arose independently among different trilobite groups.