Marrellomorpha

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Extinct class of arthropods

title: "Marrellomorpha" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["marrellomorpha", "paleozoic-arthropods", "arthropod-classes"] description: "Extinct class of arthropods" topic_path: "general/marrellomorpha" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrellomorpha" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct class of arthropods ::

| name = Marrellomorpha | fossil_range = Middle Cambrian - Early Devonian, | image = Marrella.png | image_caption = Life restoration of Marrella (Marrellida) | image2 = Primicaris larvaformis diagrammatic reconstruction.svg | image2_caption = Diagram of Primicaris (Acercostraca) | taxon = Marrellomorpha | authority = Beurlen, 1930 | subdivision_ranks = Subgroups | subdivision_ref = | subdivision = *Acercostraca

Marrellomorpha are an extinct group of arthropods known from the Cambrian to the Early Devonian. It is divided into two major groups, Marrellida and Acercostraca. They lacked mineralised hard parts, so are only known from areas of exceptional preservation, limiting their fossil distribution. The best known member is Marrella, with thousands of specimens found in the Cambrian aged Burgess Shale of Canada.

Description and ecology

The group is divided up into two major orders, Marrellida and Acercostraca. Both groups have cuticles (exoskeletons) that are not mineralised, unbranched antennae attached to the head section (cephalon) and a segmented trunk (reaching over 25 segments in adult individuals in some species) with a pair of biramous (divided into two branches) appendages attached to each trunk segment except the last. Marrellida is recognised by the possession of head shields with two or three pairs of elongate spine-like projections, and two or three attached pairs of uniramous (single-branched) head appendages (including the antennae), while Acercostraca have large ovoid dorsal shields that cover the entire upper half of the body, and up to five pairs of appendages attached to the head section.

The trunks of marrellids are divided into numerous cylindrically-shaped segments. The endopods (lower, leg-like branches) of the biramous trunk limbs of marrellids have six segments (podomeres). The exopods (outer/upper branches of the two-branched biramous trunk limbs) of marrellids had an annulated appearance, and had numerous attached elongate lammelate setae (hair-like structures) and are thought to have functioned for respiration. The trunk limb exopods of at least some acercostracans were similar to those of marrellids.

Marrellids are either suggested to have swum close to the seafloor (Marrella) or have lived walking along the sea floor (other marrellids) and to have used their hind trunk appendages to sift food particles, which were then passed forward by the limbs to the mouth. The posterior trunk appendages of at least some vachonisiid acercostracans have been suggested to have been used the same way, and are also suggested to have lived on the seafloor.

Taxonomy

Internal taxonomy

Internal taxonomy of Marrellomorpha after Moysiuk et al., 2022.

Fragmentary taxa assigned to Marrellomorpha include Austromarrella from Cambrian Series 3 aged deposits in Australia, and Dyrnwynia from the Ordovician (Darriwilian) aged Llanfallteg Formation of Wales, which in its original description was assigned to Marrelida.

Some studies have recovered Marrellomorpha as paraphyletic, with Marrellida and Acercostraca more closely related to other arthropods than they are to each other.

Gallery

Relationship to other arthropods

Their phylogenetic position within arthropoda is uncertain, beyond being placed in Deuteropoda for their possession of biramous appendages. Various studies have alternatively placed them in the Arachnomorpha as relatives of Artiopoda (trilobites and kin), as related to Mandibulata (the group containing crustaceans, insects and myriapods), or as stem group euarthropods. The engimatic Cambrian arthropod Burgessia may be closely related to marrellomorphs. Some authors have proposed that they may be closely related to sea spiders (Pycnogonida) within Chelicerata though the cladistical support for such a relationship is relatively weak. A 2025 paper found Marrellomorpha to be within total-group Mandibulata, as a paraphyletic group at the base of Artiopoda.

Phylogeny

Internal phylogeny

After Legg, 2016. |{{clade |1 = Outgroups |label2 = Marrellomorpha |2 = {{clade |label1 = Marrellida |1 = {{clade |1 = Marrella splendens [[File:Marrella.png|70px]] |label2 = Mimetasteridae |2 = {{clade |1 = Furca bohemica [[File:Furca bohemica reconstruction.png|60px]] |2 = {{clade |1 = Moroccan marrellid ("Furca mauretanica") [[File:Furca mauritanica diagram.png|70px]] |2 = Mimetaster hexagonalis [[File:Mimetaster hexagonalis reconstruction.jpg|80px]] |label2 = Acercostraca |2 = {{clade |1 = Skania fragilis [[File:Skania diagram.png|100px]] |2 = {{clade |1 = Primicaris larvaformis [[File:Primicaris.png|70px]] |2 = {{clade |1 = "Skania" sundbergi [[File:Skania sundbergi.png|60px]] |label2 = Vachonisiidae |2 = {{clade |1 = Enosiaspis hrungnir [[File:Enosiaspis hrungnir carapace.png|60px]] |2 = {{clade |1 = Xylokorys chledophilia [[File:Xylokorys chledophilia.png|60px]] |2 = Vachonisia rogeri [[File:Vachonisia rogeri.png|60px]] After Moysiuk et al., 2022. |size=10 |at1=4.8|label1=Taxa usually not considered marrellomorphs |cladogram= |{{clade |1 = {{clade |1 = {{clade |label1=Marrellomorpha |1 = {{clade |1 = {{clade |label1 = Marrellida |1 = {{clade |1 = {{clade |1 = {{clade |1 = "Mimetaster" florestaensis [[File:Mimetaster florestaensis carapace.png|60px]] |2 = Furca bohemica [[File:Furca bohemica reconstruction.png|60px]] |2 = {{clade |1 = Mimetaster hexagonalis [[File:Mimetaster hexagonalis reconstruction.jpg|80px]] |2 = Tomlinsonus dimitrii [[File:Tomlinsonus (white background).png|80px]] |3 = Moroccan marrellid ("Furca mauretanica") [[File:Furca mauritanica diagram.png|70px]] |2 = Marrella [[File:Marrella.png|70px]] |2 = {{clade |1 = {{clade |1 = Palaeoisopus|bar1=purple |2 = Haliestes|bar2=purple |2 = Aquilonifer|bar2=purple |label2=Acercostraca |2 = {{clade |1 = {{clade |1 = {{clade |1 = Vachonisia [[File:Vachonisia rogeri.png|60px]] |2 = Xylokorys [[File:Xylokorys chledophilia.png|60px]] |2 = Enosiaspis [[File:Enosiaspis hrungnir carapace.png|60px]] |2 = {{clade |1 = Skania [[File:Skania diagram.png|100px]] |2 = Primicaris [[File:Primicaris.png|70px]] |2 = Eoredlichia |3 = Mollisonia |2 = {{clade |1 = Waptia |2 = Tokummia |2 = Kylinxia

External phylogeny

Equal weights maximum parsimony phylogeny of Arthropoda after Liu et al. 2025, which recovered "Marrellomorpha" as a paraphyletic group at the base of Artiopoda (the group which includes trilobites and their relatives), within total group Mandibulata.{{clade |label1=Arthropoda |1={{clade |1=Radiodonta (e.g. Anomalocaris) [[File:20191203_Anomalocaris_canadensis.png|100px]] |label2=Deuteropoda |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Megacheira [[File:20191027_Leanchoilia_superlata.png|100px]] |2=Pan-Chelicerata (sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, arachnids, etc) [[File:Limulus polyphemus (aquarium) (white background).jpg|100px]] |label2=Total group Mandibulata |2={{clade |1="Great appendage bivalved forms" [[File:Occacaris oviformis Hou.png|100px]] |2={{clade |1=Isoxyida [[File:Artistic_reconstruction_of_Isoxys_curvirostratus.jpg|100px]] |2={{clade |1=Hymenocarina [[File:20211025_Waptia_fieldensis.png|100px]] |2={{clade |1=Fuxianhuiida [[File:20211117 Fuxianhuia protensa.png|100px]] |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Marrellida [[File:Marrella.png|100px]] |2={{clade |1=Acercostraca [[File:Primicaris_larvaformis_diagrammatic_reconstruction.svg|100px]] |2=Artiopoda (including Trilobita)[[File:Estonian_Museum_of_Natural_History_-trilobite-_Hydrocephalus.png|100px]] |2={{clade |1=Myriapoda (millipedes, centipedes, etc) [[File:Scolopendra multidens 広西省産.jpg|100px]] |2=Pancrustacea (crustaceans, insects, etc)

References

References

  1. (2023-09-25). "Early developmental stages of a Lower Ordovician marrellid from Morocco suggest simple ontogenetic niche differentiation in early euarthropods". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
  2. Siveter, Derek J. (2007-09-22). "A Silurian ‘marrellomorph’ arthropod". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
  3. (July 2022). "A new marrellomorph arthropod from southern Ontario: a rare case of soft-tissue preservation on a Late Ordovician open marine shelf". Journal of Paleontology.
  4. Legg, D.A.. (2015-09-30). "The morphology and affinities of ''Skania fragilis'' (Arthropoda) from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale". Bulletin of Geosciences.
  5. (2012). "A ''Marrella''-like arthropod from the Cambrian of Australia: A new link between "Orsten"-type and Burgess Shale assemblages". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
  6. Legg, David. (2016). "A new marrellid arthropod from the Ordovician of Wales". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
  7. (February 2013). "The phylogeny of aglaspidid arthropods and the internal relationships within Artiopoda". Cladistics.
  8. (31 May 2025). "A tiny Cambrian stem-mandibulate reveals independent evolution of limb tagmatization and specialization in early euarthropods". Scientific Reports.
  9. Legg, David A.. (2016-02-27). "An acercostracan marrellomorph (Euarthropoda) from the Lower Ordovician of Morocco". The Science of Nature.
  10. (2012). "A revision of the Late Ordovician marrellomorph arthropod ''Furca bohemica'' from Czech Republic". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

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marrellomorphapaleozoic-arthropodsarthropod-classes