''Chamaeleoaspis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of tiny

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 ...

s found in Early to Middle

Eifelian The Eifelian is the first of two faunal stages in the Middle Devonian Epoch. It lasted from 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago to 387.7 ± 0.8 million years ago. It was preceded by the Emsian Stage and followed by the Givetian Stage. North American ...

marine strata of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The two species look very similar to the trilobites of the related genera ''

Cyphaspis ''Cyphaspis'' is a genus of small trilobite that lived from the Late Ordovician to the Late Devonian. Fossils have been found in marine strata in what is now Europe, Africa and North America. Various species had a compact body, and a large, bul ...

'' and '' Otarionella'', in which the species were originally, successively classified in. Fossils of the older species, ''C. lkomalii'', are found in a locality at the southern end of the Maider Basin, in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. Fossils of the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

, ''C. chamaeleo'', are found in the Middle Eifelian-aged Ohle Formation in Endorf, Germany..

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Proetida genera Devonian trilobites of Africa Devonian trilobites of Europe Early Devonian first appearances Trilobites of Africa Middle Devonian genus extinctions {{proetida-stub