Trilobiti po sobě zanechali v sedimentech prvohorního stáří bohatý fosilní záznam, včetně drobných postembryonálních stadií. Během rané ontogeneze je vývoj trilobitů charakterizován postupným přirůstáním tělních článků a následně ho vystřídá tzv. epimorfní vývoj, kdy nové články už dále nepřirůstají. Nejmenší postembryonální stadia trilobitů mohla žít planktonním nebo bentickým způsobem života.

Použitá a citovaná literatura:
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FORTEY, R. A., CHATTERTON, B. D. E. Classification of the trilobite suborder Asaphida. Palaeontology. 1988, vol. 31, s. 165–222.
HUGHES, N. C., MINELLI, A., FUSCO, G. The ontogeny of trilobite segmentation: a comparative approach. Paleobiology. 2006, vol. 32, s. 602–627.
CHATTERTON, B. D. E., SPEYER, S. E. Larval ecology, life history strategies, and patterns of extinction and survivorship among Ordovician trilobites. Paleobiology. 1989, vol. 15, s. 118–132.
CHATTERTON, B. D. E., SIVETER, D. J., EDGECOMBE, G. D., HUNT, A.S. Larvae and relationships of the Calymenina (Trilobita). Journal of Paleontology. 1990, vol. 64, s. 255–277.
CHATTERTON, B. D. E. Ordovician proetide trilobite Dimeropyge, with a new species from northwestern Canada. Journal of Paleontology. 1994, vol. 68, s. 541–556.
CHATTERTON, B. D. E, EDGECOMBE, G. D. SPEYER, S. E., HUNT, A. S., FORTEY, R. A. Ontogeny and relationships of Trinucleoidea (Trilobita). Journal of Paleontology. 1994, vol. 68, s. 523-540.
CHATTERTON, B. D. E., SPEYER, S. E. 1997. Ontogeny. In KAESLER, R. L. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology, Part O, Arthropoda 1, Trilobita 1, revised. Volume 1. Lawrence: Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, 1997. S. 173–247.
LAIBL, L., FATKA, O., CRONIER, C., BUDIL, P. Early ontogeny of the Cambrian trilobite Sao hirsuta from the Skryje–Týřovice Basin, Barrandian area, Czech Republic. Bulletin of Geosciences. 2004, vol. 88, s. 293–309.
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SPEYER, S. E., CHATTERTON, B. D. E. Trilobite larvae and larval ecology. Historical Biology. 1989, vol. 3, s. 27–60.
STUBBLEFIELD, C. J. Notes on the development of a trilobite Shumardia pusilla (Sars). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society London. 1926, vol. 35, s. 345–372.
WAISFELD, B. G., VACCARI, N. E., EDGECOMBE, G. D., CHATTERTON, B. D. E. Systematics of Shumardiidae (Trilobita), with new species from the Ordovician of Argentina. Journal of Paleontology. 2001, vol. 75, s. 827–859.
WHITTINGTON, H. B. The ontogeny of trilobites. Biological Reviews. 1957, vol. 32, s. 421–469.
ZHANG, X. G., CLARKSON, E. N. K. Phosphatized eodiscoid trilobites from the Cambrian of China. Palaeontographica Abt. A: Palaeozoology – Stratigraphy. 2012, vol. 297, s. 1–121.

Trilobites have an excellent fossil record in palaeozoic sediments, including their early postembryonic stages. During the early ontogeny, trilobite development is characterised by the successive addition of trunk segments. This type of development is subsequently replaced by a so-called epimorphic phase with stable numbers of segments. The earliest postembryonic stages of trilobites could live either as plankton or benthos.