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 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 270 million years, with over 20,000 species having been described.
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.
Anomalocaris is an extinct genus of radiodont (anomalocaridid), an order of animals thought to be closely related to ancestral arthropods. The first fossils of Anomalocaris were discovered in the Ogygopsis Shale by Joseph Frederick Whiteaves, with more examples found by Charles Doolittle Walcott in the Burgess Shale. Originally several fossilized parts discovered separately were thought to be three separate creatures, a misapprehension corrected by Harry B. Whittington and Derek Briggs in a 1985 journal article. Anomalocaris is thought to be one of the earliest examples of an apex predator, though others have been found in older Cambrian lagerstätten deposits.
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" (writing).
Diplocaulus is an extinct genus of lepospondyl amphibians which lived from the Late Carboniferous to the Late Permian of North America and Africa. Diplocaulus is by far the largest and best-known of the lepospondyls, characterized by a distinctive boomerang-shaped skull. Remains attributed to Diplocaulus have been found from the Late Permian of Morocco and represent the youngest-known occurrence of a lepospondyl.
Deiphon is a distinctive genus of Silurian phacopid trilobites of the family Cheiruridae found in Western and Central Europe, and in Central and Eastern United States. The type species, D. forbesi, from England, Bohemia, and Sweden, was discovered and described by the French paleontologist, Joachim Barrande in 1850.
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.
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.
Walliserops is a genus of spinose phacopid trilobite, of the family Acastidae, found in Lower to Middle Devonian age rocks from the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco. All species of Walliserops possess a three-pronged "trident" that protrudes from the glabella. Walliserops is most closely related to the genus Comura.
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.
Drotops is a genus of trilobites from the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae that lived during the Eifelian of the Middle Devonian. It was described by Struve in 1990 under type species Drotops megalomanicus. Their fossils are found in present-day Morocco, specifically the Maïder Region located South West of Erfoud.
Olenoides was a trilobite from the Cambrian period. Its fossils are found well-preserved in the Burgess Shale in Canada. It grew up to 10 cm long.
Ampyx is an Ordovician-Silurian genus of Asaphid trilobites of the family Raphiophoridae. Species of Ampyx are characterized by three extended spines on the head-shield, one spine derived from each free cheek, and one spine emanating from the glabellum. Species include Ampyx linleyensis.
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 New Latin echino- ("spiny") and the Greek gnáthos ("jaw"), in reference to a spiny endognathary appendage part of the fossil type material.
Selenopeltis is an extinct genus of odontopleurid trilobites in the family Odontopleuridae.
Cyphaspis is a genus of small trilobite that lived from the Late Ordovician to the Late Devonian. Fossils have been found in marine strata in what is now Europe, Africa and North America. Various species had a compact body, and a large, bulbous glabellum. Many species had long spines arranged similarly to closely related genera, such as Otarian, Otarionella, Chamaeleoaspis, and Namuropyge.
Fossils of many types of water-dwelling animals from the Devonian period are found in deposits in the U.S. state of Michigan. Among the more commonly occurring specimens are bryozoans, corals, crinoids, and brachiopods. Also found, but not so commonly, are armored fish called placoderms, snails, sharks, stromatolites, trilobites and blastoids.
Soomaspis is a genus of small to average size marine arthropods in the Liwiidae Family, that lived during the late Ordovician. Fossil remains of Soomaspis were collected from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte in Western Cape, South Africa. Soomaspis looks like a large, soft agnostid trilobite. It has a headshield wider than the tailshield (pygidium), and in between them three thoracic body segments (somites). The genus is monotypic, its sole species being Soomaspis splendida.
Biceratops is an extinct genus of olenelloid redlichiid trilobites, of average size, with the largest specimen 8 centimetres or 3.1 inches long, not including the huge pleural spines of the 3rd segment of the thorax. It lived during the Toyonian stage, in what is today the South-Western United States. Biceratops can easily be distinguished from other trilobites by the absence of genal spines, in combination with effaced features of the raised axial area of the head shield, that is bordering the two horn-like projections that carry the eyes. Biceratops nevadensis is the only known species in this genus.
Furca is an extinct genus of marrellomorph arthropod known from the Sandbian stage of the Czech Republic. At least three distinct species have been described although they may all be synonyms of the type species, Furca bohemica. A tentative additional species, "Furca mauretanica": was proposed for specimens discovered in Morocco, but this species remains a nomen nudum until formally published.
