Morphological keys have not been used extensively in the systematic treatments of most fossil groups, but their utility has been demonstrated many times in the systematic study of modern organisms. Moreover, by breaking the morphological descriptions down into fixed character and variable character state categories it becomes easy to determine which characteristics actually define the group, and to correctly identify genera that may seem superficially similar. Even better, PaleoBase databases contain extensive search tools (not available in this simulation) to help you identify unknown specimens and test your knowledge of the group. To return to the main taxon record panel place your mouse cursor on the button containing the red arrow that points to the left and press the mouse button once.

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