Meanings
plural holaspides
- 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 4442 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 46The 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
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
holaspis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holaspis
“holaspis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holaspis. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “holaspis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holaspis.
Source: holaspis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.