''Bolboparia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of eodiscinid

agnostid Agnostidae is a family of Agnostida trilobites. Like all Agnostina, they were eyeless and bore only two thoracic segments. They ranged in benthic waters across the globe from 508 to 461 million years ago, containing the following genera, among o ...

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") 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 At ...

s. It lived during the late Lower Cambrian in what today Canada and the United States.

Taxonomy

''Bolboparia'' is most closely related to ''

Acidiscus ''Acidiscus'' Rasetti, 1966, is a genus of Eodiscinid trilobite belonging to the family Weymouthiidae Kobayashi T. (1943), Order Agnostida Salter (1864). It lived during the Botomian stage = late Lower Cambrian Stage 4 (upper of two stages subdiv ...

'' and slightly more distantly to '' Stigmadiscus''.

Description

Like all Agnostida, ''Bolboparia'' is diminutive and the headshield (or

cephalon Cephalon, Inc. was an American biopharmaceutical company co-founded in 1987 by pharmacologist Frank Baldino, Jr., neuroscientist Michael Lewis, and organic chemist James C. Kauer—all three former scientists with the DuPont Company. Baldino s ...

) and tailshield (or

pygidium The pygidium (plural pygidia) is the posterior body part or shield of crustaceans and some other arthropods, such as insects and the extinct trilobites. In groups other than insects, it contains the anus and, in females, the ovipositor. It is compo ...

) are of approximately the same size (or isopygous) and outline. Like all Weymouthiidae, ''Bolboparia'' lacks eyes and rupture lines (or sutures). The short, downsloping glabella and the bulging cheeks give it a very peculiar aspect.

Distribution

* ''Bolboparia superba'' and ''B. elongata'' are both known from the Lower Cambrian of the United States (unnamed formation, East Chatham Quad, Columbia County, New York State ). * ''Bolboparia canadensis'' is only known from the Lower Cambrian of Canada (''Olenellus''-zone, calcarenite bed a half mile north of Elgin Station, south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec).

References

Weymouthiidae Agnostida genera Cambrian trilobites Fossils of Canada Fossils of the United States Paleontology in Quebec {{agnostida-stub