Damesellidae is a family of
odontopleurid 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 found in late Middle to Late
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
marine strata, primarily of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Damesellids are closely related to the odontopleurids of
Odontopleuridae
Odontopleuridae is a family of odontopleurid trilobites found in marine strata throughout the world. Odontopleurids of Odontopleuridae first appear in Late Cambrian-aged marine strata, and the last genera perish by the end of the Frasnian stag ...
, but are not nearly as spinose, nor possess spines as exaggerated as Odontopleuridae. Like Odontopleuridae odontopleurids, damesellids have broad, bar-shaped cranidia with ledge-like borders. Damesellidae may represent transitional forms between more primitive, possibly ancestral
ptychopariids and more advanced odontopleurids.
Genera
Genera include
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Adelogonus''
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Bergeronites''
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Blackwelderia''
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Blackwelderioides''
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Chiawangella''
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Cyrtoprora''
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Damesella''
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Damesops''
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Dipentaspis''
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Dipyrgotes''
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Neodrepanura''
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Duamsannella''
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Fengduia''
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Guancenshania''
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Hercantyx''
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Histiomona
''Histiomona'' is an extinct genus of damesellid odontopleurid trilobite. It lived from 501 to 490 million years ago during the Dresbachian faunal stage of the late Cambrian Period
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the ...
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Jiawangaspis''
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Karslanus''
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Liuheaspis''
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Metashantungia''
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Neodamesella''
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Palaeadotes,''
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Paradamesella''
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Parashantungia''
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Pingquania''
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Pionaspis''
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Protaitzehoia''
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Pseudoblackwelderia''
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Shantungia''
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Stephanocare''
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Taihangshania''
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Taitzehoia''
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Teinistion''
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Xintaia''
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Yanshanopyge''
References
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Odontopleurida
Trilobite families
Furongian extinctions
{{Odontopleurida-stub