Soft Body-Related Features of the Carapace and the Lifestyle of Paleozoic Beyrichioidean Ostracodes

摘要

The central muscle scar field of the beyrichioidean palaeocopid ostracodes includes an adductor muscle scar composed of many polygonal scars, a long mandibular scar composed of eight individual scars, and an oval frontal muscle scar. Probably, as in the extant ostracodes, the muscle scars served as attachment points for the closing muscles as well as for the muscles and chitinous supporting structures from the appendages. The fulcral depression, on which the dorsal apex of the mandible pivots in recent ostracodes, has also been recognized in the Early Carboniferous beyrichiids and paraparchitids.