Paradoxides

Paradoxides
Temporal range: Middle Cambrian
~514–497 Ma
Paradoxides gracilis fossil at the American Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Order: Redlichiida
Family: Paradoxididae
Genus: Paradoxides
Brongniart, 1822
Species[1]
  • P. paradoxissimus (Wahlenberg, 1818) (type species) synonym Entomostracites paradoxissimus
  • P. carens(Barrande, 1846)
  • P. davidis Salter, 1863
    • P. davidis davidis Salter, 1863
    • P. davidis intermedius Bergström & Levi-Setti 1978
    • P. davidis trapezopyge Bergström & Levi-Setti 1978
  • P. gracilis (Boeck, 1827) = Trilobites desideratus, Vinicella desideratus
  • P. brachyrhachis Linnarsson, 1883
  • P. bidentatus Westergård, 1936
  • P. quadrimucronatus Holm MS. in Westergard, 1936
  • P. briareus Geyer, 1993
  • P. forchhammeri Angelin, 1854
  • P. grandoculus McMenamin & Weaver, 2004
  • P. haywardi Raymond, 1914
  • P. hicksii Salter, 1865
  • P. knizeki (Kordule, 1990)
  • P. mandiki (Kordule, 1990)
  • P. minor (Boeck, 1827)
  • P. opanol (Šnajdr, 1978)
  • P. rohanovicus (Šnajdr, 1986)
  • P. rugulosus Corda, 1847
  • P. sirokyi (Šnajdr, 1986)
  • P. walcotti Shaler & Foerste, 1888
Synonyms
  • Entomostracites
  • Vinicella

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,[2] 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.[3]

  1. ^ BioLib
  2. ^ Salter, J. W. 1863. "On the Discovery of Paradoxides in Britain". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 19, 274–277.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Treatise was invoked but never defined (see the help page).