''Entomolithus'' (petrified insect) is an obsolete scientific name for several

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, first published by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753, before the starting point of

zoological nomenclature The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the In ...

in a list under the heading "Paradoxus: 3. Entomolithus Monoculi". This is why this first name has no formal status. After the starting point of the zoological nomenclature, the name was published again in 1759, but with a different description. Because scholars incorrectly considered ''Entomolithus'' Linnaeus, 1759 a junior homonym, it was later replaced by ''

Entomostracites ''Entomostracites'' is a scientific name for several trilobites, now assigned to various other genera. * ''E. bucephalus'' = ''Paradoxides paradoxissimus'' * ''E. crassicauda'' = '' Illaenus crassicauda'' * ''E. expansus'' = '' Asaphus expansus'' * ...

'' Wahlenberg, 1818. Although the name as published in 1759 was in fact valid, the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

decided to suppress ''Entomolithus'' Linnaeus, 1759, because this name had gone out of use for a very long time. Species originally assigned to ''Entomolithus'' have been renamed. * ''E. paradoxus'' = ''

Paradoxides paradoxissimus ''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 . The cephalon was se ...

'' * ''E. paradoxus α expansus'' = '' Asaphus expansus''

References

{{Set index article, animals Disused trilobite generic names