Chotecops

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Chotecops
Temporal range: Emsian–Famennian
Chotecops ferdinandi - Naturmuseum Senckenberg - DSC02239.JPG
Chotecops ferdinandi
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Order: Phacopida
Family: Phacopidae
Genus: Chotecops
Chlupac, 1971
Species

See text.

Chotecops is a genus of trilobites from the order Phacopida, suborder Phacopina, family Phacopidae. It was initially erected as a subgenus of Phacops but some later authors thought it distinctive enough to raise its status. Species assigned to this genus occur between the Emsian and the Famennian. Chotecops is the most abundant trilobite in the Hunsrück Slate and due to the excellent preservation, often soft tissue such as antennae and legs have been preserved as a thin sheet of pyrite.

Description

Like in all sighted Phacopina, the eyes of Chotecops are compounded of very large, separately set lenses without a common cornea (so called schizochroal eyes), and like almost all other Phacopina, the articulate mid-length part of the body (or thorax) in Chotecops has 11 segments.

The central raised area of the cephalon (called glabella) consists from back to front of an occipital ring, but unlike in its close relative Phacops the preoccipital ring in Chotecops is flat and not reduced to its sides, and the furrow defining its front (S1) is shallow. One or two pairs of furrows (S2 and S3) may be visible further to the front which are weak at best. The large frontal lobe is moderately vaulted and falls steeply to the furrow that defines the border at its front. The space between the glabella and the eyebrow (or palpebral area) is flat. The headshield has a finer sculpture. The tailshield (or pygidium) is weakly furrowed. These characters distinguish it from Phacops. [2]

Some known species and locations. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phacopina</span> Extinct suborder of trilobites

The Phacopina comprise a suborder of the trilobite order Phacopida. Species belonging to the Phacopina lived from the Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) through the end of the Upper Devonian (Famennian). The one unique feature that distinguishes Phacopina from all other trilobites are the very large, separately set lenses without a common cornea of the compound eye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phacopidae</span> Extinct family of trilobites

Phacopidae is a family of phacopid trilobites that ranges from the Lower Ordovician to the Upper Devonian, with representatives in all paleocontinents.

<i>Phacops</i> Genus of arthropods (fossil)

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.

<i>Paradoxides</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

Paradoxides is a genus of large to very large trilobite found throughout the world during the Middle Cambrian period. One record-breaking specimen of Paradoxides davidis, described by John William Salter in 1863, is 37 cm (15 in). The cephalon was semicircular with free cheeks ending in long, narrow, recurved spines. Eyes were crescent shaped providing an almost 360° view, but only in the horizontal plane. Its elongate thorax was composed of 19–21 segments and adorned with longish, recurved pleural spines. Its pygidium was comparatively small. Paradoxides is a characteristic Middle-Cambrian trilobite of the 'Atlantic' (Avalonian) fauna. Avalonian rocks were deposited near a small continent called Avalonia in the Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean. Avalonian beds are now in a narrow strip along the East Coast of North America, and in Europe.

<i>Huntoniatonia</i> Genus of trilobites

Huntoniatonia is genus of trilobites, an extinct group of marine arthropods of average to large size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emsian</span> Third stage of the Devonian

The Emsian is one of three faunal stages in the Early Devonian Epoch. It lasted from 407.6 ± 2.6 million years ago to 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago. It was preceded by the Pragian Stage and followed by the Eifelian Stage. It is named after the Ems river in Germany. The GSSP is located in the Zinzil'ban Gorge in the Kitab State Geological Reserve of Uzbekistan, 35 centimetres (14 in) above the contact with the Madmon Formation.

<i>Ductina</i> Genus of extinct trilobites

Ductina is a genus of extinct, small to average sized, eyeless phacopid trilobite, that lived during the Devonian.

<i>Eldredgeops</i> Genus of trilobites

Eldredgeops is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, known from the late Middle and earliest Upper Devonian of Morocco and the USA.

Boeckops is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, which existed in what is now the Czech Republic. It was described by Chlupac in 1972, and the type species is Boeckops boecki, which was originally described as Phacops boecki by Hawle and Corda in 1847. Boeckops is also been discriped from the lower Devonian of Morocco and Algeria. The Genus Boeckops is interpreted as intermediate from between the traditional genus concept of Phacops and Reedops. The Genus Boeckops is regarded as problematic or difficult by McKellar et Chatterton 2009.

<i>Ellipsocephalus</i> Genus of trilobites (blind)

Ellipsocephalus Zenker, 1833, is a genus of blind Cambrian trilobite, comprising benthic species inhabiting deep, poorly lit or aphotic habitats. E. hoffi is a common trilobite mainly from central Europe.

<i>Morocconites</i>

Morocconites malladoides is an average size trilobite, which lived during the Devonian period, in what is now southern Morocco. This species is assumed to be a close relative of Acastoides. The most conspicuous feature is the very long upcurved frontal medial spine, a bit like an avocet bill. It is the only known species in this genus.

<i>Pseudonaraoia</i>

Pseudonaraoia is a genus of small marine arthropods within the family Naraoiidae, that lived during the late Middle Ordovician period. The only species presently known is Pseudonaraoia hammanni.

<i>Conocoryphe</i> Genus of trilobites

Conocoryphe is a genus of primarily eyeless trilobites belonging to the family Conocoryphidae. They lived during the Middle Cambrian period, about 505 million years ago. These arthropods lived on the sea bottom (epifaunal) and lived off dead particulate organic matter.

<i>Odontochile</i> Genus of trilobites

Odontochile is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Dalmanitidae.

<i>Coltraneia</i> Genus of trilobite

Coltraneia is a genus of trilobite, that lived during the upper Emsian and lower Eifelian, and has been found in Algeria, France, Germany, Morocco and Spain.

<i>Psychopyge</i>

Psychopyge is a genus of trilobite, that lived during the upper Emsian and has been found in Germany and Morocco. It is characterized by the swordlike extension from the front of the head.

<i>Cedaria</i>

Cedaria is an extinct genus of trilobites from the late Cambrian.

<i>Kendallina</i> Genus of trilobites

Kendallina is a genus of parabolinoidid trilobite with an inverted egg-shaped outline, a wide headshield, small eyes, small deflected spines, 12 thorax segments and a small, short tailshield. It lived during the Late Cambrian in what are today Canada and the United States.

<i>Tricrepicephalus</i>

Tricrepicephalus is an extinct genus of ptychopariid trilobites of the family Tricrepicephalidae with species of average size. Its species lived from 501 to 497 million years ago during the Dresbachian faunal stage of the late Cambrian Period. Fossils of Tricrepicephalus are widespread in Late Cambrian deposits in North America, but is also known from one location in South America. Tricrepicephalus has an inverted egg-shaped exoskeleton, with three characteristic pits in the fold that parallels the margin of the headshield just in front of the central raised area. The articulating middle part of the body has 12 segments and the tailshield carries two long, tubular, curved pygidial spines that are reminiscent of earwig's pincers that rise backwards from the plain of the body at approximately 30°.

<i>Viaphacops</i>

Viaphacops is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, that lived during the Middle Devonian, and is known from North and South America, Asia.

References

  1. Chlupac, I. (1975). "The distribution of phacopid trilobites in space and time". Fossils and Strata. 4 (4): 399–408. doi:10.18261/8200049639-1975-26. ISBN   8 2-00-04963-9.
  2. Chlupac, I. (1993). "Trilobites from the Givetian and Frasnian of the Holy Cross Mountains" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 37 (2–4): 395–406.
  3. Trilobites of the Hunsrück Slate, Germany