Telephinidae

Last updated

Telephinidae
Temporal range: Ordovician
Opipeuterella swimming.png
Opipeuterella , reconstruction in dorsal view and swimming
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Order: Proetida
Superfamily: Bathyuroidea
Family: Telephinidae
Marek, 1952
Genera and subgenera
Synonyms
  • Telephidae
  • Carrickiinae

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.

Contents

Distribution

The Telephinidae probably evolved from a species assigned to the Hystricuridae. Telephinids first occur during the late Tremadocian, with Carolinites and Opipeuterella being globally very common at low latitudes by the end of the Floian. Carolinites survived into the Darriwilian, at which time a second major radiation occurred, that includes Telephina and Telephops, and these genera only became extinct at the end of the Ordovician. [1]

Description

The central raised area of the headshield (or glabella) is strongly convex. The most backward segment (called occipital ring) is wide and is defined by a deep furrow. No further segments can be determined in front of the occipital ring, but sometimes 2-4 pairs of muscle impressions are visible, of which the one just in front of the occipital ring may be deepened at its inner end (in some Telephina species) to form a lengthwise furrow. The fixed cheeks have broad palpebral lobes (between the eye and the glabella) that take up most of the length of headshield. The frontal border of the headshield is arched, with a circular cross section, or modified to form a pair of short spines. The free cheeks curve strongly downwards and have prominent borders, particularly to the side and the back, and these bear long tube- or blade-like genal spines. The articulating middle part of the body (or thorax) consists of 9 or 10 segments. The axis is extremely convex and the side-lobes (or pleurae) are narrow. The tailshield (or pygidium) is convex and its axis is prominent and has 2-4 rings. The most backward piece may bear a long spine. The seam of the exoskeleton (or doublure) is narrow. [2]

Differences with the Cyclopygidae

Cyclopigids lack genal spines and palpebral lobes. Their thorax has 5 to 7 segments. The occipital ring is present only in the Ellipsotaphrinae subfamily.

Ecology

Like the contemporary but unrelated Cyclopygidae, Telephinidae occur with blind or nearly blind benthic trilobites, a typical adaptation to a lightless environment, and oceanic free-floating graptolites. Telephinidae however also occur with sighted benthic trilobites and other organisms. Comparison of the angles and densities of the facets shows that the eyes of the Telephinidae were less adapted to low-light levels and therefore cyclopygids are considered to have been confined to deeper water, swimming at the lower limit of the photic zone (or mesopelagic). This implies Telephinidae lived higher up in the water column, possibly hunting plankton. Because of the weight, Telephinidae probably swam back-down. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dalmanites</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

Dalmanites is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida. They lived from the Late Ordovician to Middle Devonian.

<i>Paradoxides</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

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.

<i>Huntoniatonia</i> Genus of trilobites

Huntoniatonia is genus of trilobites, an extinct group of marine arthropods of average to large size.

<i>Triarthrus</i> Genus of trilobite

Triarthrus is a genus of Upper Ordovician ptychopariid trilobite found in New York, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, eastern and northern Canada, China and Scandinavia. It is the last of the Olenid trilobites, a group which flourished in the Cambrian period. The specimens of T. eatoni that are found in the Beecher's Trilobite Bed, Rome, New York area are exquisitely preserved showing soft body parts in iron pyrite. Pyrite preservation has given scientists a rare opportunity to examine the gills, walking legs, antennae, digestive systems, and eggs of trilobites, which are rarely preserved. Triarthrus is therefore commonly used in science texts to illustrate trilobite anatomy and physiology.

<i>Ductina</i> Genus of extinct trilobites

Ductina is a genus of extinct, small to average sized, eyeless phacopid trilobite, that lived during the Devonian.

<i>Dikelocephalus</i> Genus of trilobites

Dikelocephalus is a genus of very large trilobites of up to 50 cm (20 in) long, that lived during the last 3 million years of the Cambrian (Sunwaptan). Their fossils are commonly found as disarticulated sclerites, in the upper Mississippi Valley and in Canada (Alberta). The exoskeleton is rounded anteriorly, with the thorax and sides of the tailshield slightly tapering to about 23× of the width across the base of the spines at the back of the headshield. At the side corners of the pygidium there may be triangular or hooked spines, pointing backwards, while between the spines the posterior margin is at a 30-75° angle with the lateral margin, gently convex or nearly straight. If pygidial spines are lacking, the margin is gradually rounded. The thorax has 12 segments.

<i>Globampyx</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

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>Meteoraspis</i>

Meteoraspis is an extinct genus of ptychopariid trilobites of the family Tricrepicephalidae. The various species lived from 501 to 497 million years ago during the Dresbachian faunal stage of the late Cambrian Period. Fossils of Meteoraspis are characteristic of Late Cambrian strata in North America, though they are found in Late Cambrian strata elsewhere in the world, such as M. nevensis from Victoria Land, Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alokistocaridae</span>

Alokistocaridae is a family of ptychopariid trilobites that lived from the Botomian epoch of the Early Cambrian until the Late Cambrian. Alokistocarids were particle feeders and left small furrows which are occasionally preserved. Their remains are found worldwide. Elrathia kingii, one of the most collected trilobites in the world, is a typical alokistocarid.

<i>Geragnostus</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

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

<i>Symphysops</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

Symphysops is a genus of trilobites of average size, belonging to the Cyclopygidae family. It had a cosmopolitan distribution and lived from the Middle to the Upper Ordovician. It has been found in Canada, China, the Czech Republic (Bohemia), Iran, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Poland, Morocco, Spain, Scotland and Wales. The name Symphysops refers to the fused eyes, common to the species of this genus. Some (sub)species of the cyclopygid genera Cyclopyge and Pricyclopyge share this character, but Symphysops uniquely combines the merged eye with a frontal thorn on the head and the "lower eyelid".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclopygidae</span> Extinct family of trilobites

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.

<i>Pricyclopyge</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

Pricyclopyge is a genus of trilobites assigned to the family Cyclopygidae that occurs throughout the Ordovician. Pricyclopyge had an extratropical distribution, and there is evidence that it lived in darker parts of the water column. Pricyclopyge has huge eyes, an inverted pear-shaped glabella, six thorax segments, with on the 3rd two small discs. Pricyclopyge is known from what are today China, the Czech Republic, France, and the United Kingdom.

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raphiophoridae</span> Extinct family of trilobites

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>Pliomera</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

Pliomera is a genus of trilobites that lived during the Middle Ordovician on the paleocontinent Baltica, now Norway, Sweden, Estonia and the Russian Federation, and in Argentina. It can be recognized for its pentagonal glabella widest between the frontal corners, with an inverted V-shaped occipital ring. In front of the occipital furrow that crosses the entire glabella, two pairs of dead-ending furrows create three side lobes left and right. The front of the glabella also has three dead-ending furrows, a very short one on the midline and left and right a longer one, directed inward and slightly backward. The eyes are small and are not connected to the glabella by an eye ridge. The thorax and pygidium are very regularly divided into up to 23 rather narrow segments, without a furrow within each of the pleurae. The pleurae are clearly wider than the axis. The pygidium ends in downward pointing toothlike spines.

<i>Psychopyge</i>

Psychopyge is a genus of trilobite, that lived during the upper Emsian and has been found in Germany and Morocco. It is characterized by the swordlike extension from the front of the head.

<i>Cedaria</i>

Cedaria is an extinct genus of trilobites from the late Cambrian.

<i>Orygmaspis</i> Genus of trilobites

Orygmaspis is a genus of asaphid trilobite with an inverted egg-shaped outline, a wide headshield, small eyes, long genal spines, 12 spined thorax segments and a small, short tailshield, with four pairs of spines. It lived during the Late Cambrian in what are today Canada and the United States.

<i>Tricrepicephalus</i>

Tricrepicephalus is an extinct genus of ptychopariid trilobites of the family Tricrepicephalidae with species of average size. Its species lived from 501 to 497 million years ago during the Dresbachian faunal stage of the late Cambrian Period. Fossils of Tricrepicephalus are widespread in Late Cambrian deposits in North America, but is also known from one location in South America. Tricrepicephalus has an inverted egg-shaped exoskeleton, with three characteristic pits in the fold that parallels the margin of the headshield just in front of the central raised area. The articulating middle part of the body has 12 segments and the tailshield carries two long, tubular, curved pygidial spines that are reminiscent of earwig's pincers that rise backwards from the plain of the body at approximately 30°.

References

  1. J.M. Adrian (2014). "20. A synopsis of Ordovician trilobite distribution and diversity". In D.A.T. Harper; T. Servais (eds.). Early Palaeozoic Biogeography and Palaeogeography. Memoirs of the Geological Society of London. Vol. 38. Geological Society of London. p. 490. ISBN   978-1862393738.
  2. Fortey, R.A. (1975). The Ordovician Trilobites of Spitsbergen[II. Asaphidae, Nileidae, Raphiophoridae and Telephinidae of the Valhallfonna Formation]. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter. Vol. 162. Oslo: Norsk Polarinstitutt.
  3. McCormick, T.; Fortey, R.A. (1998). "Independent testing of a paleobiological hypothesis: the optical design of two Ordovician pelagic trilobites reveals their relative paleobathymetry". Paleobiology. 24 (2): 235–253. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(1998)024[0235:ITOAPH]2.3.CO;2. JSTOR   2401241. S2CID   132509541.