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Dryad

Data for: Variation in eye lenses of two new Late Devonian phacopid trilobites from western Junggar, NW China

Abstract

The Suborder Phacopina, characterized by schizochroal eyes, is among the most common groups of trilobites in Devonian strata. The marine sediments of the Famennian in western Junggar, Xinjiang, contain abundant low-disparity phacopids, which have previously been designated to Omegops accipitrinus mobilisPhacops circumspectans tuberculosus, and Omegops cornelius, based on small numbers of poorly preserved specimens. In this study, these phacopids were identified as two new species of Omegops, O. honggulelengensis sp. nov. and O. xiangi sp. nov., based on nearly 200 well-preserved specimens. The intraspecific variations of eye-lenses of these specimens were quantitatively analyzed. Based on differences in the total number, number of dorso-ventral files, and arrangement of the eye lenses, the absence of lenses in the middle part of the visual surface, and asymmetry of the number and/or arrangement of lenses in the two eyes, it was concluded that the reasons for intraspecific variation in eye lenses of Late Devonian Omegops from western Junggar were different from previously described factors, but were likely genetic or embryological malfunctions, or abnormalities caused by pathological conditions. Diversity of lenses in the schizochroal eyes shows that the number and arrangement of eye lenses were not stable in Phacopina. Therefore, many specimens are needed for quantitative study to determine the true characteristics of the number or arrangement of eye lenses when these features are used in the systematic taxonomy of Phacopina.