New eyes discovered in trilobites

[Still Waters]

Trilobites, prehistoric sea creatures, had so-called median eyes, single eyes on their foreheads, in addition to their compound eyes, research conducted by Dr. Brigitte Schoenemann at the University of Cologne's Institute of Zoology and Professor Dr. Euan Clarkson at the University of Edinburgh has now found out.

Such single eyes are found in all arthropods and also in many relatives of the extinct trilobites. They are usually small cup eyes (ocelli), sometimes even equipped with lenses, and not unlike human eyes. These so-called median eyes are typical for all arthropods, but had not yet been discovered in trilobites despite 150 years of research.

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-eyes-trilobites.html

The researchers have published their findings in Scientific Reports.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31089-7