Pytine

Last updated

Pytine
Temporal range: Early [1] to Late Arenig [2]
Pytine graia.JPG
P. graia
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Order: Asaphida
Family: Raphiophoridae
Genus: Pytine
Fortey, 1975
Type species
Pytine graia
Fortey, 1975
Species
  • P. graiaFortey, 1975
  • P.? brevicauda(Wiman, 1905)
  • P. corrugataZhang & Zhou in Zhang, 1979
  • P. wirayasqaVaccari, et al. 2006 [1]
Synonyms
  • Ampyx brevicaudaWiman, 1905
  • Jiuxiella laevigataLiu in Zhou et al., 1977
  • Jiuxiella jiangxiensisZhou et al., 2001
  • Miboshania corrugataZhang & Zhou in Zhang, 1979

Pytine is an extinct genus of asaphid trilobites. Species lived during the later part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period, [2] approximately 478 to 471 million years ago. Various species are found in the Svalbard, Valhallfonna Formation, Olenidsletta, Member, of Spitzbergen, Norway, the Megistaspis (Paramegistaspis) planilimbata Zone of the 'Shumardia Shale' of Sweden, Jujuy Province, Argentina, early Arenig-aged strata of Jiangxi province, China, and Darriwilian-aged strata in Western Hunan province, China. The type species, P. graia, has seven thorax segments, and lacks the rapier-like glabellar spine, that occurs in many other raphiophorids. [3] The Chinese species, by contrast, have only six thoracic segments. [1] So far, only the type species, and one of the Chinese species, P. laevigata (synonym= Jiuxiella laevigata), are known from complete specimens. [1]

Contents

Species and synonymy

Richard Fortey erected the genus in 1975 upon describing P. graia from Spitzbergen. In 1999, Hoel subjectively synonymized a Swedish species of Ampyx, A. brevicauda, into Pytine. The Chinese raphiophorid genera Jiuxiella and Miboshania were noted to be anatomically similar to P. graia, and were merged into Pytine, as well. In 2006, N. E. Vaccari described P. wirayasqa from several fragments from the early Arenig-aged Acoite Formation, of La Ciénaga, Jujuy province, Argentina, together with specimens of another related raphiophorid genus, Lehnertia .

Etymology

Pytine is derived from an Ancient Greek word for a wineflask with wattles, referring to the shape and wrinkled texture of the glabellum. [3]

Related Research Articles

<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>Han</i> (trilobite)

Han is a monotypic genus of agnostid trilobite, whose sole member is Han solo. The type specimen of H. solo was found in marine strata of the Arenig to Llanvirn-aged Zitai Formation of Middle Ordovician southern China, and is named after the character in Star Wars.

<i>Cloacaspis</i>

Cloacaspis is an extinct genus of Olenid Ptychopariid trilobite. It lived during the early part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period, a faunal stage which lasted from approximately 478 to 471 million years ago. Richard Fortey has proposed that these particular trilobites lived in anoxic regions of the ocean floor, and cultivated symbiotic, sulfur-metabolizing bacteria.

<i>Balnibarbi</i> (trilobite)

Balnibarbi is an extinct genus of trilobites in the family Olenidae. They are known from fossils excavated in Norway. They lived during the early part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period, a faunal stage that occurred about 479 to 472 million years ago.

<i>Globampyx</i>

Globampyx is an extinct genus raphiophorid trilobites. It lived during the later part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period, approximately 478 to 471 million years ago. Species of the genus are known from Canada, Norway (Svalbard) and Sweden.

<i>Norasaphus monroeae</i>

Norasaphus monroeae is a species of asaphid trilobites named after Marilyn Monroe for its hourglass-like shaped glabellum. Its fossils are found in Arenig-aged marine strata from the Nora Formation, in the Georgina Basin, situated between the Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia.

<i>Lonchodomas</i>

Lonchodomas is a genus of trilobites, that lived during the Ordovician. It was eyeless, like all raphiophorids, and had a long straight sword-like frontal spine, that gradually transforms into the relatively long glabella. Both the glabellar spine and the backward directed genal spines are subquadrate in section. Lonchodomas has five thorax segments and the pleural area of the pygidium has two narrow furrows. Lonchodomas occurred in what are today Argentina, Canada (Newfoundland), Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, the Russian Federation and the United States.

Pliomerina is a genus of trilobites. A new species, P. tashanensis, was described from the late Ordovician of China by Dong-Chan Lee in 2012.

<i>Trinodus</i>

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.

<i>Geragnostus</i>

Geragnostus is a genus of very small agnostid trilobites whose fossils are found Ordovician-aged marine strata from Eurasia, North America and Argentina.

Prospectatrix is a genus of trilobites of average size, that lived in the Lower Ordovician and is probably ancestral to the other genera of the Cyclopygidae family. Its eyes are only moderately enlarged and it has six or seven thorax segments.

Cyclopygidae

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.

Sagavia is a genus of trilobites that lived during the Middle and Upper Ordovician in what are now Northwest and Southeast China, North Kazakhstan and Wales. It is a typical cyclopygid that can be distinguished by its large but separate eyes, elongated glabella, five thorax segments and a pygidium with clearly defined axis and border.

Carolinites is a genus of trilobite, assigned to the Telephinidae family, that occurs during the Lower and Middle Ordovician. Carolinites had a pantropical distribution, and there is evidence that it lived in upper parts of the water column. The free cheeks of Carolinites are largely covered by its huge eyes, except for the attachment of large genal spines that extend downward, backward and lateral and gradually curving further backward. The glabella is slightly bulbous, the occipital ring is well defined, but further transglabellar furrows are lacking. The thorax has 10 segments. The axis of the pygidium is highly vaulted, with a curved spine emerging almost perpendicular to the midline and ending parallel to it and a node on each of the other three segments. Carolinites is known from what are today Australia (Tasmania), Canada (Alberta), China, France, Spitsbergen, and the United States (Utah).

Raphiophoridae

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.

<i>Taklamakania</i>

Taklamakania is a genus of asaphid trilobites of the family Raphiophoridae that lived during the late Caradoc of Inner Mongolia, China. Like all raphiophorids it is blind, with a headshield that is subsemicircular, carrying genal spines and a forward directed spine on the central raised area, with the front of the glabella inflated and the natural fracture lines of the cephalon coinciding with its margin. It is easily distinguished from most other raphiophorids by the 3 thorax segments. Pseudampyxina, Nanshanaspis, and Kongqiangheia also have only 3 such segments, but all three lack the frontal spine that emanates from the glabellum of Taklamakania species. All other raphiophorid genera have at least 5 thorax segments. Three species, T. tarimensis, T. tarimheensis, and T. xinjiangensis, have been assigned to this genus sofar.

<i>Gog</i> (trilobite)

Gog is a genus of large, flattened asaphid trilobite from the Middle Arenig-aged Svalbard, Valhallfonna Formation, Olenidsletta, Member, of Spitzbergen, Norway, and the Upper Arenig-aged Dawan Formation in Hubei, China.

Telephinidae

Telephinidae is a family of pelagic trilobites with large wide-angle eyes, occupying most of the free cheeks, downward directed facial spines and 9-10 thorax segments. The family is known during the entire Ordovician and occurred in deep water around the globe.

<i>Bulbaspis</i>

Bulbaspis is a late Ordovician genus of asaphid trilobites of the family Raphiophoridae found primarily in upper Ordovician-aged deepwater marine strata of Kazakhstan, China, and possibly Tasmania. Species of Bulbaspis are similar to other raphiophorids such as Ampyx and Raphiophorus, save that the long spine that emanates from the glabella of the latter two genera has been modified into a knob-like or bulb-like structure in Bulbaspis that developed incrementally in the animal's growth. The function of the bulb is as yet unknown: one hypothesis suggests sexual selection may have had a role in its evolution in the genus.

<i>Nanshanaspis</i>

Nanshanaspis is a genus of asaphid trilobites of the family Raphiophoridae that lived during the late Caradoc of Inner Mongolia, China. Like all raphiophorids it is blind, with a headshield that is subsemicircular, carrying genal spines and a forward directed spine on the central raised area, with the front of the glabella inflated and the natural fracture lines of the cephalon coinciding with its margin. It is easily distinguished from most other raphiophorids by the 3 thorax segments. Pseudampyxina, Taklamakania, and Kongqiangheia also have only 3 such segments, while all other raphiophorid genera have at least 5 thorax segments, leading to the erection of the subfamily "Taklamakaniinae" to contain these four genera. "Taklamakaniinae" was dissolved and its members absorbed into Raphiophorinae when further study showed the close similarities the "taklamakaniids" had to the juvenile forms of various raphiophorinids. Specimens of Nanshanaspis, for example, closely resemble juveniles of Globampyx trinucleoides.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vaccari, N. EMILIO, BEATRIZ G. Waisfeld, BRIAN DE Chatterton, and G. D. Edgecombe. "New raphiophorid trilobites from the Ordovician of Argentina and their biogeographic implications." MEMOIR-ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALASIAN PALAEONTOLOGISTS 32 (2006): 353.
  2. 1 2 Sepkoski, J. (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Trilobita entry)". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
  3. 1 2 Fortey, R.A. (1975). The Ordovician Trilobites of Spitsbergen[II. Asaphidae, Nileidae, Raphiophoridae and Telephinidae of the Valhallfonna Formation]. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter. 162. Oslo: Norsk Polarinstitutt.