Unique trilobite trident could be the oldest evidence of male sexual combat NHM_London PNASNews
A unique specimen suggests that male Walliserops trilobites fought each other using trident-like structures to win the opportunity to mate with females. So the history of jousting may go back much further than the Middle Ages., suggests that a group of ancient invertebrates known as trilobites may have"jousted" hundreds of millions of years ago.
"We now believe that it was used for jousting between males striving for dominance. The evolution of sexually motivated competition in animals is hundreds of millions of years older than we thought." These secondary features are used to help attract mates and to compete with rivals and are some of the most obvious examples of sexual selection in the animal kingdom. In many species however, the impacts of sexual selection are much more subtle, and it becomes even more difficult to detect inWhile there is some evidence of sexual selection in dinosaurs, such as the frills of Protoceratops, there isn't enough evidence to rule out the other potential roles these structures had.
A four-tined Walliserops trifurcatus specimen is the key piece of evidence used by the researchers to argue their case. Credit: Alan Gishlick It may have also influenced how likely the trilobite was to compete for mates, but the mating success of the individual, or lack thereof, would not have affected its survival chances. Deer with abnormal antlers, for instance, can still survive until they are fully grown.
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