Trilobites are a group of extinct marine artiopodan arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period, and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 300 million years.
Nektaspida is an extinct order of soft-bodied arthropods proposed by Raymond in 1920; its taxonomic status is uncertain. Specimens are known from the early Cambrian to the upper Silurian periods. A Russian find in the Vendian of the White Sea (=Ediacaran) has in 2006 also been attributed to this order, which would make it the earliest arthropod found yet. Whittington (1985) placed the order in the Trilobita. Cotton & Braddy (2000) place it in a new "Trilobite clade" containing the Trilobita, recognizing the close affinities of the nektaspids to trilobites. However this necessitates the inclusion of genera that look very little like trilobites., it was formerly placed in the stem-group to the chelicerata subdivision of the Arthropoda phylum. However, it currently considered part of Artiopoda.
Phacops is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, that lived in Europe, northwestern Africa, North and South America and China from the Late Ordovician until the very end of the Devonian, with a broader time range described from the Late Ordovician. It was a rounded animal, with a globose head and large eyes, and probably fed on detritus. Phacops is often found rolled up ("volvation"), a biological defense mechanism that is widespread among smaller trilobites but further perfected in this genus.
Dalmanitidae is a family of trilobites in the order Phacopida that lived from the Floian (Ordovician) to the Devonian and includes 33 genera.
Olenellina is a suborder of the order Redlichiida of trilobites that occurs about halfway during the Lower Cambrian, at the start of the stage called the Atdabanian. The earliest trilobites in the fossil record are arguably Olenellina, although the earliest Redlichiina and Eodiscina follow quickly. The suborder died out when the Lower passed into the Middle Cambrian, at the end of the stage called Toyonian. A feature uniting the Olenellina is the lack of rupture lines in the headshield, which in other trilobites assist the periodic moulting, associated with arthropod growth. Some derived trilobites have lost facial sutures again, but all of these are blind, while all Olenellina have eyes.
The Emu Bay Shale is a geological formation in Emu Bay, South Australia, containing a major Konservat-Lagerstätte. It is one of two in the world containing Redlichiidan trilobites. The Emu Bay Shale is dated as Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4, correlated with the upper Botomian Stage of the Lower Cambrian.
Johan Wilhelm Dalman was a Swedish physician and a naturalist. He first studied at Christiansfeld in Schleswig-Holstein then at the University of Lund and the University of Uppsala. He was mainly interested in entomology and botany. He received his degree in 1816 then his doctorate in 1817 from the University of Uppsala. Dalman became librarian of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, a member of the Academy in 1821, then director of the zoological garden, then demonstrator in botany at the Karolinska Institutet of Stockholm.
Cheiruridae is a family of phacopid trilobites of the suborder Cheirurina. Its members, as with other members of the suborder, had distinctive pygidia modified into finger-like spines. They first appeared in the uppermost Cambrian, and persisted until the end of the Middle Devonian (Givetian). Currently about 657 species assigned to 99 genera are included.
Ceraurus is a genus of cheirurid trilobite of the middle and, much more rarely, the upper Ordovician. They are commonly found in strata of the lower Great Lakes region. These trilobites have eleven thoracic segments, a very small pygidium and long genal and pygidial spines.
Calymene Brongniart, 1822, is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, suborder Calymenina, that are found throughout North America, North Africa, and Europe in primarily Silurian outcrops. Calymene is closely related to Flexicalymene, and both genera are frequently found enrolled. Calymene trilobites are small, typically 2 cm in length. The cephalon is the widest part of the animal and the thorax usually has 13 segments.
The Dresbachian is a Maentwrogian regional stage of North America, lasting from 501 to 497 million years ago. It is part of the Upper Cambrian and is defined by four trilobite zones. It overlaps with the ICS-stages Guzhangian, Paibian and the lowest Jiangshanian.
Encrinuridae is a family of trilobite within the order Phacopida that lived in what would be Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America from the middle Ordovician to the early Devonian from 479 to 412.3 million years ago, existing for approximately 66.7 million years .
Ptychopariidae is a family of trilobites, containing the following genera:
Odontopleurida is an order of very spinose trilobites closely related to the trilobites of the order Lichida. Some experts group the Odontopleurid families, Odontopleuridae and Damesellidae, within Lichida. Odontopleurids tend to have convex, bar-shaped cephalons, and lobed, knob-shaped glabella that extend to, or almost to the anterior margin. Many, if not almost all odontopleurids have long spines that are derived either from the margins of the exoskeleton, or from granular or tubercular ornamentation, or both. Many odontopleurids are so spinose so as to be described as having "spines on (their) spines." Odontopleurids have 8 to 13 thoracic segments, with Odontopleuridae odontopleurids having no more than 10, and Damesellidae odontopleurids having no more than 13. The pygidium tends to be very small, and invariably has long spines emanating from it in all known genera.
Asaphidae is a family of asaphid trilobites. Although the first genera originate in Upper Cambrian marine strata, the family becomes the most widely distributed and most species-rich trilobite family during the Ordovician. 754 species assigned to 146 genera are included in Asaphidae.
Phillipsiidae is a family of proetid trilobites, the various genera of which comprise some of the last of the trilobites, with a range that extended from the Kinderhookian epoch of the Lower Mississippian, to the end of Changhsingian age at Permian-Triassic extinction event in the latest Permian period.
Cambrian Stage 3 is the still unnamed third stage of the Cambrian. It succeeds Cambrian Stage 2 and precedes Cambrian Stage 4, although neither its base nor top have been formally defined. The plan is for its lower boundary to correspond approximately to the first appearance of trilobites, about 521 million years ago, though the globally asynchronous appearance of trilobites warrants the use of a separate, globally synchronous marker to define the base. The upper boundary and beginning of Cambrian Stage 4 is informally defined as the first appearance of the trilobite genera Olenellus or Redlichia around 514 million years ago.
Cyclopygidae is a family of asaphid trilobites from the Ordovician. Cyclopygids had an extratropical distribution, and there is evidence that they lived in darker parts of the water column. Cyclopygids are characterized by enlarged eyes, with a wide angle of view, both horizontal and vertical, reminiscent of the eyes of dragonflies. These typically touch the glabella directly on the side. Cyclopygids all lack genal spines, but Symphysops carries a forward directed frontal spine on the glabella. It is presumed that at least the members of the genus Pricyclopyge swam upside down and had bioluminescent organs on the third thorax segment. Cyclopygids had between 7 and 5 thorax segments, a wide and stout axis, and short side lobes.
Raphiophoridae is a family of small to average-sized trilobites that first occurred at the start of the Ordovician and became extinct at the end of the Middle Silurian.
Proetus is a genus of proetid trilobite found in Silurian-aged marine strata of Europe.
