| Ellipsocephalus Temporal range: Middle Cambrian | |
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| Ellipsocephalus hoffi, Cambrian, Jince Formation, Czech Republic | |
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| Family: | Matthew, 1887 |
| Genus: | Ellipsocephalus Zenker, 1833 |
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Ellipsocephalus Zenker, 1833, [1] is a genus of blind Cambrian trilobite, comprising benthic species inhabiting deep, poorly lit or aphotic habitats. [2] E. hoffi is a common trilobite mainly from central Europe (Czech Republic). [3]
Ellipsocephalus is approximately oval in shape and markedly convex. It has opistoparian facial sutures that are directed slightly outward from both front and back of the eyes[ clarification needed ]. The glabella has approximately parallel, slightly concave sides and is rounded frontally. Lateral furrows are indiscernible, as is the occipital ring. The palpebral lobes are not distinctly separated from the narrow occular ridges. The preglabellar field is somewhat inflated and librigenae are half as wide as the fixigenae. Some species have genal spines (as in E. sanctacrucensis), whereas in the most common species (E. hoffi) the genae lack spines and are only slightly angular posterolaterally. Ellipsocephalus has 12 thoracic segments and the pygidium is 4× wider than long. [13]
Ellipsocephalus and some other primitive micropygous Cambrian genera, such as Bailiella , enroll differently from other trilobites so that the posterior thorax segments and pygidium bend under the thorax. This is called "double enrollment". [13]
Naraoiidae is a family, of extinct, soft-shelled trilobite-like arthropods, that belongs to the order Nektaspida. Species included in the Naraoiidae are known from the second half of the Lower Cambrian to the end of the Upper Silurian. The total number of collection sites is limited and distributed over a vast period of time: Maotianshan Shale and Balang Formation (China), Burgess Shale and Bertie Formation (Canada), the Šárka Formation, Emu Bay Shale (Australia), Idaho and Utah (USA). This is probably due to the rare occurrence of the right circumstances for soft tissue preservation, needed for these non-calcified exoskeletons.
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.
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.
Agraulos is a genus of Solenopleuridae trilobites that lived during the Middle Cambrian in North America and Europe, particularly the Czech Republic. The genus was named by Hawle & Corda in 1847.
Acontheus is a genus of trilobites belonging to the Family Corynexochidae, Order Corynexochida, and is geographically widespread having been recorded from middle Cambrian strata in Sweden, Newfoundland, Germany, Siberia, Antarctica, Queensland, China and Wales.
Wanneria is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It lived during the later part of the Botomian stage, which lasted from approximately 524 to 518.5 million years ago. This faunal stage was part of the Cambrian Period. Wanneria walcottana is the only known species in this genus.
Holmia is a genus of a well known group of extinct arthropods, the trilobites, that lived during the Lower Cambrian (Atdabanian) in what are now Scandinavia, Poland and Morocco.
Peronopsis is a genus of trilobite restricted to the Middle Cambrian. Its remains have been found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 2012.
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.
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.
Lejopyge laevigata is a species of agnostid trilobite belonging to the genus Lejopyge. It existed during the Guzhangian to the Paibian Age of the Cambrian. It has a cosmopolitan distribution and is an important index fossil in biostratigraphy.
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.
Pleuroctenium Hawle & Corda (1847) is an agnostid trilobite belonging to the family Condylopygidae Raymond (1913). The genus occurs in Middle Cambrian (Drumian) strata of Canada, the Czech Republic, England and Wales, France, and Sweden.
Diplorrhina Hawle and Corda (1847) is a genus of trilobite belonging to Order Agnostida. It lived during the early Middle Cambrian in what are now the Czech Republic and the North Siberian plateau. as in members of the family Peronopsidae it lacks a preglabellar furrow. Both cephalon and pygidium lack spines. It is difficult to distinguish Diplorrhina from many other peronopsids.
Condylopyge Hawle and Corda (1847) is a genus of agnostid trilobite that lived during the late Lower and early Middle Cambrian, in what are today Canada, the Czech Republic, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey and Sweden. It can easily be distinguished from all other Agnostida because the frontal glabellar lobe is notably wider than the rear lobe. It belongs to the same family as Pleuroctenium but the frontal glabellar lobe does not fold around the rear lobe, as it does in that genus. Condylopyge is long ranging, possibly spanning the early Cambrian Terreneuvian Series in Nuneaton, central England into at least Drumian strata at various locations elsewhere.
Schmalenseeia is genus of trilobites of uncertain affinity, that lived during the middle Middle to earliest Upper Cambrian. Species assigned to Schmalenseeia have been found in Norway, Sweden, Northern Siberia, Eastern China, Australia (Tasmania), India (Himalayas) and the United Kingdom.
Plutonides is a genus of Middle Cambrian trilobite in the family Paradoxididae with species Plutonides sedgwickii and possibly Plutonides? illingi. Several other species and subspecies were at times placed in Plutonides but have subsequently been moved to other genera.
Bailiaspis Resser, 1936, is a Middle Cambrian (Miaolingian) trilobite genus belonging to the Family Conocoryphidae Angelin, 1854. Within the Acado-Baltic region, the genus ranges from Wuliuan into Guzhangian age strata.
This list of fossil arthropods described in 2018 is a list of new taxa of trilobites, fossil insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and other fossil arthropods of every kind that were described during the year 2018, as well as other significant discoveries, and events related to arthropod paleontology that are scheduled to occur in the year 2018.