holaspis

H4O1L1A1S1P3I1S1

noun

A stage in the development of a trilobite at which the creature has gained its adult segmentation, but continues to molt and grow.

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounholaspis (plural holaspides)

plural holaspides

  1. biologyA stage in the development of a trilobite at which the creature has gained its adult segmentation, but continues to molt and grow.

    The pygidial spines are stout and direct outward in the early holaspis (Fig. 2, A-B, F), but become slender and direct inward in the late holaspis (Fig. 2, D, E).

    2008, Xuejian Zhu, Shanchi Peng, Jingxun Zuo, “Revision an Ventral Structure of Guangxiaspis guangxiensis Zhou, 1977 (Trilobita)”, in Isabel Rábano, Rodolfo Gozalo, Diego García-Bellido Capdevila, editors, Advances in Trilobite Research, page 444
    2 more examples

    A similar situation may also characterize S. wenlockiana, a species with six segments in holaspis, the smallest holaspids of which have similar glabellar lengths to those of the sixth degree meraspis of A. konincki.

    2001, Jonathan M. Adrain, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Bruce S. Lieberman, editors, Fossils, Phylogeny, and Form: An Analytical Approach, page 46

    The holaspis stage has a full complement of thoracic segments for the species but growth continues through further molts and maturity may not be reached until some time after the holaspis stage was reached.

    2009, Michael J. Benton, David A. T. Harper, Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record, page 366

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Cite this entry
APA

holaspis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holaspis

MLA

“holaspis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holaspis. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “holaspis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holaspis.

Source: holaspis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.