Trilobites are extinct marine 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 trilobites disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 251.9 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described.
Nektaspida is an extinct order of non-mineralised artiopodan arthropods. They are known from the mid-Cambrian to the upper Silurian. Originally classified as trilobites, which they superficially resemble, they are now placed as close relatives as members of the Trilobitomorpha within Artiopoda. The order is divided into three major families; Emucarididae, Liwiidae, and Naraoiidae.
Dalmanites is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida. They lived from the Late Ordovician to Middle Devonian.
Megalograptus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Megalograptus have been recovered in deposits of Katian age in North America. The genus contains five species: M. alveolatus, M. ohioensis, M. shideleri, M. welchi and M. williamsae, all based on fossil material found in the United States. Fossils unassigned to any particular species have also been found in Canada. The generic name translates to "great writing" and originates from the mistaken original belief that Megalograptus was a type of graptolite, often given names ending with -graptus.
Cheiruridae is a family of phacopid trilobites of the suborder Cheirurina. Its members, as with other members of the suborder, had distinctive pygidial 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.
Greenops is a mid-sized Devonian trilobite of the order Phacopida, subfamily Asteropyginae. They are mainly reported from the mid-Devonian Hamilton Group of upstate New York and southwestern Ontario. A similar-looking trilobite from Morocco is often mis-labelled Greenops. Greenops had schizocroidal eyes, large genal spines and short, sharp spines at the tip of each segment of the pygidium ("tail"). Greenops lived in warm, fairly deep water. In the Hamilton Group of New York, they are found with Eldredgeops, Dipleura and Bellacartwrightia, a trilobite that resembles Greenops but has much larger pygidial spines. In Ontario, they are found in the Widder Formation, which outcrops at Arkona, where they are, by far, the dominant trilobite.
Triarthrus is a genus of Upper Ordovician ptychopariid trilobite found in New York, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, eastern and northern Canada, China and Scandinavia. It is the last of the Olenid trilobites, a group which flourished in the Cambrian period. The specimens of T. eatoni that are found in the Beecher's Trilobite Bed, Rome, New York area are exquisitely preserved showing soft body parts in iron pyrite. Pyrite preservation has given scientists a rare opportunity to examine the gills, walking legs, antennae, digestive systems, and eggs of trilobites, which are rarely preserved. Triarthrus is therefore commonly used in science texts to illustrate trilobite anatomy and physiology.
Flexicalymene Shirley, 1936. is a genus of trilobites belonging to the order Phacopida, suborder Calymenina and Family Calymenidae. Flexicalymene specimens can be mistaken for Calymene, Gravicalymene, Diacalymene and a few other Calymenina genera. They are used as an index fossil in the Ordovician. Ohio and North America are particularly known for being rich with Flexicalymene fossils.
Echinognathus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. The type and only species of Echinognathus, E. clevelandi, is known from deposits of Late Ordovician age in the United States. The generic name is derived from the Neo-Latin echino- ("spiny") and the Greek gnáthos ("jaw"), in reference to a spiny endognathary appendage part of the fossil type material.
Pytine is an extinct genus of asaphid trilobites. Species lived during the later part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period, approximately 478 to 471 million years ago. Various species are found in the Svalbard, Valhallfonna Formation, Olenidsletta, Member, of Spitzbergen, Norway, the Megistaspis (Paramegistaspis) planilimbata Zone of the 'Shumardia Shale' of Sweden, Jujuy Province, Argentina, early Arenig-aged strata of Jiangxi province, China, and Darriwilian-aged strata in Western Hunan province, China. The type species, P. graia, has seven thorax segments, and lacks the rapier-like glabellar spine, that occurs in many other raphiophorids. The Chinese species, by contrast, have only six thoracic segments. So far, only the type species, and one of the Chinese species, P. laevigata, are known from complete specimens.
Ceraurinium is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida that existed during the upper Ordovician of what is now Poland. It was described by Pribyl and Vanek in 1985, and the type species is Ceraurinium intermedius, which was originally described under the genus Ceraurus by Kielan in 1955. It was described from the Holy Cross Mountains.
Cerauropeltis is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida that existed during the upper Ordovician of what is now New York, U.S.A. It was described by Pribyl and Vanek in 1985, and the type species is Cerauropeltis ruedemanni, which was originally described under the genus Ceraurus by Raymond in 1916. It was described from the Valcour Formation.
Encrinuroides is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, that existed during the upper Ordovician in what is now Wales. It was described by Reed in 1931, and the type species is Encrinuroides sexcostata, which was originally described under the genus Cybele by Salter in 1848. It also contains the species, Encrinuroides enshiensis, Encrinuroides insularis, and Encrinuroides rarus. The type locality was in the Sholeshook Limestone Formation.
Gabriceraurus is a trilobite in the order Phacopida, that existed during the upper Ordovician in what is now Canada. It was described by Pribyl and Vanek in 1985, and the type species is Gabriceraurus gabrielsi, which was originally described under the genus Ceraurus by Ludvigsen in 1979. The type locality was the Esbataottine Formation in the Northwest Territories.
Trinodus is a very small to small blind trilobite, a well known group of extinct marine arthropods, which lived during the Ordovician, in what are now the Yukon Territories, Virginia, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Svalbard, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Iran, Kazakhstan and China. It is one of the last of the Agnostida order to survive.
Geragnostus is a genus of very small agnostid trilobites whose fossils are found Ordovician-aged marine strata from Eurasia, North America and Argentina.
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.
Bulbaspis is a late Ordovician genus of asaphid trilobites of the family Raphiophoridae found primarily in upper Ordovician-aged deepwater marine strata of Kazakhstan, China, and possibly Tasmania. Species of Bulbaspis are similar to other raphiophorids such as Ampyx and Raphiophorus, save that the long spine that emanates from the glabella of the latter two genera has been modified into a knob-like or bulb-like structure in Bulbaspis that developed incrementally in the animal's growth. The function of the bulb is currently unknown: one hypothesis suggests sexual selection may have had a role in its evolution in the genus.
Entomaspididae is a family of harpetid trilobites that ranges from the Upper Cambrian to Lower Ordovician of marine strata in China and the United States.
Thaleops is an extinct genus of trilobite of the family Illaenidae. It lived from the Floian to the Katian of the Ordovician in what is now North America. Thaleops can be told apart from other illaenids because of the cheek spines that many species possess under their eyes. Thaleops had a large distribution range, With some species being found in parts of Canada to some U.S states including Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and New York. It is thought to have lived in shallow water, as a study published in Oklahoma found that deposits that contained Thaleops and the asaphid trilobite Bumastides contained 4 times as many trilobite genera, where associated with shallow water areas.
