#  Modified legs show that trilobites mated like horseshoe crabs 

 





July 27, 2022

 

 

- [ News ](/news-categories/news)
 
 

 

 Graduate student **Sarah Losso** has made quite a splash during summer 2022 with the publication of her work exploring the evolutionary significance of highly modified limbs in the trilobite *Olenoides serratus* from the mid-Cambrian Burgess Shale in British Columbia. The [study is now published](https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/50/8/897/613523/Claspers-in-the-mid-Cambrian-Olenoides-serratus) in *Geology*, fully open access thanks to support from the [Wetmore Colles Grant](https://mcz.harvard.edu/wetmore-colles-grant) at the MCZ, and was even selected for the August issue cover as part of the series conmemorating the 50th anniversary of the journal! Sarah's work has attracted considerable media attention, with coverage including the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/science/trilobites-sex-claspers.html), [Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-life-of-one-of-earth-rsquo-s-earliest-animals-exposed/), and the [Natural History Museum of London](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/may/trilobite-fossil-reveals-how-ancient-arthropods-mated.html), among others. Sarah has also made appearances in Canadian and Irish radio, as well as being featured in the YouTube Channel *Genuine Rockstars.* Follow the links below to hear more about this research. Thanks to Holly Sullvian ([https://www.sulscientific.com/)](https://www.sulscientific.com/) for the fantastic artistic reconstruction that helps us bring the mating behavior of trilobites to life!

 **[Quirks and Quarks](https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-51/clip/15914044%20) - Interview with Bob McDonald for Canadian radio**

 **[Genuine Rockstars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g54KbCSVgYk&t=532s) - Interview with Melanie During for YouTube**



 



 

 

 



 

 

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