| Ellipsocephaloidea | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | † Trilobita |
| Order: | † Ptychopariida |
| Suborder: | † Ptychopariina |
| Superfamily: | † Ellipsocephaloidea Lin, 1990 |
| Families | |
See text | |
Ellipsocephaloidea is a superfamily of trilobites that lived during the Cambrian period. It was first described by Lin in 1990.
According to the Fossilworks database, Ellipsocephaloidea belongs to the order Redlichiida and includes several families, such as Agraulidae, Bigotinidae, Ellipsocephalidae, Estaingiidae, Palaeolenidae, and Yunnanocephalidae, although it is now thought the superfamily is within the Ptychopariida [1]
Agraulidae is a family of trilobites within the superfamily Ellipsocephaloidea. Members of this family are characterized by their large size and distinctive cephalic features.
Bigotinidae is another family of trilobites within the superfamily Ellipsocephaloidea. Members of this family are known for their small size and elongated body shape.
Ellipsocephalidae is a family of trilobites within the superfamily Ellipsocephaloidea. Members of this family are characterized by their oval-shaped cephalon and distinctive thoracic segments.
Estaingiidae is a family of trilobites within the superfamily Ellipsocephaloidea. Members of this family are known for their large size and distinctive pygidium.
Palaeolenidae is a family of trilobites within the superfamily Ellipsocephaloidea. Members of this family are characterized by their small size and distinctive cephalic features.
Yunnanocephalidae is a family of trilobites within the superfamily Ellipsocephaloidea. Members of this family are known for their large size and distinctive thoracic segments.
These trilobites were fast-moving low-level epifaunal deposit feeders.
Agnostida are an order of extinct arthropods which have classically been seen as a group of highly modified trilobites, though some recent research has doubted this placement. Regardless, they appear to be close relatives as part of the Artiopoda. They are present in the Lower Cambrian fossil record along with trilobites from the Redlichiida, Corynexochida, and Ptychopariida orders, and were highly diverse throughout the Cambrian. Agnostidan diversity severely declined during the Cambrian-Ordovician transition, and the last agnostidans went extinct in the Late Ordovician.
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.
The pygidium is the posterior body part or shield of crustaceans and some other arthropods, such as insects and the extinct trilobites. In groups other than insects, it contains the anus and, in females, the ovipositor. It is composed of fused body segments, sometimes with a tail, and separated from thoracic segments by an articulation.
Harpetida is one of the eleven orders of the extinct arthropod class Trilobita. The first harpetid trilobites appear in the Upper Cambrian, and the last species die out at the end of the Devonian period.
Phacopida ("lens-face") is an order of trilobites that lived from the Late Cambrian to the Late Devonian. It is made up of a morphologically diverse assemblage of taxa in three related suborders.
Ptychopariida is a large, heterogeneous order of trilobite containing some of the most primitive species known. The earliest species occurred in the second half of the Lower Cambrian, and the last species did not survive the Ordovician–Silurian extinction event.
Proetida is an order of trilobite that lived from the Ordovician to the Permian. It was the last order of trilobite to go extinct, finally dying out in the Permian-Triassic extinction event.
Emuellidae are a small family of trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods, that lived during the late Lower Cambrian of the East Gondwana supercontinent, in what are today South-Australia and Antarctica.
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,Ptychopariida, and Eodiscina follow quickly. The suborder died out when the Lower Cambrian 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.
Acimetopus Rasetti, 1966, is a genus of Eodiscinid trilobite belonging to the family Weymouthiidae Kobayashi (1943), Order Agnostida Salter (1864). It lived during the Botomian stage. = late Lower Cambrian Stage 4 ; the upper Botomian boundary corresponds to base of the Middle Cambrian, Miaolingian Series and Wuliuan stage.
Elrathia is a genus of trilobite belonging to Ptychopariacea known from the mid-Cambrian of Laurentia. E. kingii is one of the most common trilobite fossils in the USA locally found in extremely high concentrations within the Wheeler Formation in the U.S. state of Utah. E. kingii has been considered the most recognizable trilobite. Commercial quarries extract E. kingii in prolific numbers, with just one commercial collector estimating 1.5 million specimens extracted in a 20-year career. 1950 specimens of Elrathia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 3.7% of the community.
"...trilobite occupied the exaerobic zone, at the boundary of anoxic and dysoxic bottom waters. E. kingii consistently occur in settings below the oxygen levels required by other contemporaneous epifaunal and infaunal benthic biota and may have derived energy from a food web that existed independently of phototrophic primary productivity. Although other fossil organisms are known to have preferred such environments, E. kingii is the earliest-known inhabitant of them, extending the documented range of the exaerobic ecological strategy into the Cambrian Period."
Yukoniidae S. Zhang, 1980 [nom. transl. et emend. Jell, in Whittington et al., 1997 ex Yukoniinae S. Zhang in W. Zhang, Lu et al., 1980] is a small family of trilobites, belonging to the Eodiscina.
Holmiidae is a family of trilobites, that lived during the Lower Cambrian (Atdabanian). The Holmiidae is a diverse family of eight genera containing at least 17 species. It includes some of the earliest trilobites of Baltica. Holmiidae occur throughout Baltica and Western Laurentia, and also in Morocco.
Peachella is an extinct genus of trilobites, fossil marine arthropods, with species of average size. It lived during the Toyonian stage, 516 to 513 million years ago, in what is today the southwestern United States. It can easily be distinguished from other trilobites by its club-like genal spines.
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 members of Biceratopsidae 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.
Emigrantia is an extinct genus of trilobites, fossil marine arthropods, of small to average size. It lived during the Toyonian stage, in what is today the South-Western United States. Emigrantia can easily be distinguished from other trilobites by the sturdy but not inflated genal spines, that are attached at midlength of the cephalon, in combination with effaced features of the raised axial area of the head shield.
The ”Fallotaspidoidea” are a superfamily of trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods. It lived during the Lower Cambrian (Atdabanian) and species occurred on all paleocontinents except for the Gondwana heartland. A member of this group, Profallotaspis jakutensis, has long been the earliest known trilobite, but recently the redlichiid Lemdadella has been claimed as occurring even earlier.
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.
The Burlingiidae constitute a family of trilobites of uncertain affinity, that lived during the Middle to lowest Upper Cambrian. Burlingiids have a cosmopolitan distribution, can be found in deposits that originate from outside the continental shelves, and may have been planktonic. They are characterized by their oval shape, small size, proparian sutures, and non-functional articulations of the thorax. Uniquely the anterior borders of the pleura are raised, and there are between 8 and 15 thorax segments. Burlingiid trilobites have been found in Norway, Sweden, Northern Siberia, Eastern and South-eastern China, Australia (Tasmania), India (Himalayas) and the United Kingdom.
The Paradoxidoidea Hawle & Corda 1847, are a superfamily of trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods. They occurred during the late Lower Cambrian (Toyonian) and disappeared at the end of the Middle Cambrian.