The Paradoxidoidea Hawle & Corda 1847,HAWLE, J. & CORDA, A. J. C. 1847. ''Prodrom einer Monographieder bohmischen Trilobiten''. 176 pp. J. G. Calve, Prague are a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

trilobites 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 ...

, a group of

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 ...

marine

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

. They occurred during the late

Lower Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized 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 years ago (m ...

(

Toyonian Cambrian Stage 4 is the still unnamed fourth stage of the Cambrian and the upper stage of Cambrian Series 2. It follows Cambrian Stage 3 and lies below the Wuliuan. The lower boundary has not been formally defined by the International Commission on ...

) and disappeared at the end of the

Middle Cambrian Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek (di ...

Description

Species in this superfamily can be average (under 10 cm) to very large (over 30 cm), are relatively flat, have an inverted egg-shaped outline, a glabella that in early genera has parallel sides and expands forward in later representatives, and approaches or reaches the frontal border. All species have an almost semicircular 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 ...

) with long backward directed genal spines. The facial suture in front of the eye diverges forward and outward in the Paradoxididae, while in the Centropleuridae it runs outward and even a bit backward (or retrodivergent). The articulate middle part of the body (or

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

) consists of 14 to 21 segments ending in sickle-shaped spines that to the back curve increasingly further backwards (Paradoxididae) or in bluntly truncated tips (Centropleuridae). While in the Paradoxididae the frontal two segments may be more robust, the thorax of the Centropleuridae is characterize by longer backward directed sickle shaped spines on the three rear thoracic segments. The 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 ...

) is typically small with an entire margin or pair of spines in Paradoxididae, and medium-sized with 2 or 3 pairs of marginal spines in the Centropleuridae.

Key to the families

References

External links

* * Redlichiina Cambrian trilobites Fossil taxa described in 1847 Cambrian first appearances Cambrian extinctions Arthropod superfamilies {{redlichiida-stub