Illaenidae Temporal range: [1] | |
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Illaenus sarsi, 25mm | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | † Trilobita |
Order: | † Corynexochida |
Family: | † Illaenidae Hawle and Corda, 1847 |
The Illaenidae are a family of trilobites in the order Corynexochida. 223 currently accepted species in 24 genera are known from the Ordovician. Some scholars include the Panderiidae in the Illaenidae, but this is not generally supported. [2]
Illaenus? priscus from Salair and Illaenus? berkutensis from the Malyi Karatau, Kazakhstan (both Lower Tremadocian), are both very poorly known and it remains uncertain to which family they could best be assigned. The first certain Illaenid is I. hinomotoensis from the Upper Tremadocian of North China and South Korea. The earliest species known from Laurentia (western Ireland) is I. weaveri, probably latest Floian. These early occurrences are from the tropics, but during the Darriwilian the family spread over southern Gondwana, and became cosmopolitan for the remainder of the Ordovician, although most genera had limited distributions. The genus Stenopareia survived the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events and the family slightly rebounded with 26 species divided over three genera during the Silurian. Quadratillaenus tewoensis from North China is the youngest species known (Pridoli Epoch). [2]
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period 485.4 Ma to the start of the Silurian Period 443.8 Ma.
The PaleozoicEra is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of the Mesozoic Era. The Paleozoic is subdivided into six geologic periods :
The Silurian is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at 443.8 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, 419.2 Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozoic Era. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the exact dates are uncertain by a few million years. The base of the Silurian is set at a series of major Ordovician–Silurian extinction events when up to 60% of marine genera were wiped out.
Acritarchs are organic microfossils, known from approximately 1800 million years ago to the present. The classification is a catch all term used to refer to any organic microfossils that cannot be assigned to other groups. Their diversity reflects major ecological events such as the appearance of predation and the Cambrian explosion.
Nektaspida is an extinct order of non-mineralised artiopodan arthropods. They are known from the lower-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.
John William Salter was an English naturalist, geologist, and palaeontologist.
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.
The Tremadocian is the lowest stage of Ordovician. Together with the later Floian Stage it forms the Lower Ordovician Epoch. The Tremadocian lasted from 485.4 to 477.7 million years ago. The base of the Tremadocian is defined as the first appearance of the conodont species Iapetognathus fluctivagus at the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) section on Newfoundland.
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.
Asaphus is a genus of trilobites that is known from the Lower and Middle Ordovician of northwestern Europe.
The Craniidae are a family of brachiopods, the only surviving members of the subphylum Craniiformea. They are the only members of the order Craniida, the monotypic suborder Craniidina, and the superfamily Cranioidea; consequently, the latter two taxa are at present redundant and rarely used.There are three living genera within Craniidae: Neoancistrocrania, Novocrania, and Valdiviathyris. As adults, craniids either live freely on the ocean floor or, more commonly, cement themselves onto a hard object with all or part of the ventral valve.
Plumulites is an extinct genus of machaeridians, extinct annelid group.
The Pterygometopidae are a family of trilobites, that is known from the Floian to the Katian (Ordovician), and reappears from the Telychian to the Sheinwoodian (Silurian). As part of the Phacopina suborder, its members have schizochroal eyes.
Bumastus is an extinct genus of corynexochid trilobites which existed from the Early Ordovician period to the Late Silurian period. They were relatively large trilobites, reaching a length of 6 in (15 cm). They were distinctive for their highly globular, smooth-surfaced exoskeleton. They possessed well-developed, large compound eyes and were believed to have dwelled in shallow-water sediments in life.
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.
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.
Angelina Salter, 1859, is a genus of ptychopariid trilobite belonging to the Family Olenidae, Suborder olenina. It lived during the Tremadocian Stage, lowermost of the two standard worldwide divisions forming the Lower Ordovician Series and lowest of the seven stages within the Ordovician System. It encompasses all rocks formed during Tremadocian times, which spanned the interval between 485.4 million and 477.7 million years ago. Fossilized remains of Angelina are known from Wales, Central and South America. It differs from most other Triarthrinae in being larger, with a relatively narrow glabella, the occipital ring poorly defined, and lateral glabellar furrows relatively obscure. Eyes are placed midlength that of the cephalon and the facial sutures converge on the front border at the midline. Species also have long genal spines.
Illaenus crassicauda is a species of trilobites belonging to the family Illaenidae. These trilobites lived in the middle Ordovician and in the Silurian age. Fossils of this species have been found in the sediments of Sweden and Russia.
Siphonotretida is an extinct order of linguliform brachiopods in the class Lingulata. The order is equivalent to the sole superfamily Siphonotretoidea, itself containing the sole family Siphonotretidae. Siphonotretoids were originally named as a superfamily of Acrotretida, before being raised to their own order.
Labechiida is an extinct order of stromatoporoid sponges. They lived from the Early Ordovician to the Late Devonian, though a few putative fossils have been reported from younger sediments. Labechiids were the first order of stromatoporoids to appear and were probably ancestral to all other orders in the main Paleozoic radiation. They were most diverse and abundant during the Middle-Late Ordovician and the Famennian, when they were a major group of reef-building sponges. However, they were relatively uncommon through most of the Silurian and Devonian, in contrast to other stromatoporoids.