Phacopidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of phacopid

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 that ranges from the Lower Ordovician to the Upper Devonian, with representatives in all paleocontinents.

Description

As in all

Phacopina The Phacopina comprise a suborder of the trilobite order Phacopida. Species belonging to the Phacopina lived from the Lower Ordovician ( Tremadocian) through the end of the Upper Devonian (Famennian).Moore, R.C. (ed.). Treatise on Invertebrate Pal ...

, the eyes (if present) consist of very large (0.5 mm in '' Phacops rana''), separately set lenses without a common cornea (so called schizochroal eyes). However, several phacopids have very few lenses, such as the species of the genera ''Cryphops'', ''Denckmannites'', ''Dienstina'', ''Eucryphops'', ''Nephranops'', and ''Plagiolaria'', or lack eyes altogether, like ''Afrops'', ''Dianops'', ''Ductina'', and ''Trimerocephalus''. The natural fracture lines (sutures) of the head run along the top edges of the compound eye. From the back of the eye these cut to the side of the head (

proparian 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 ...

) and not to the back. In front of the eye, the right and left facial sutures connect in front of the inflated glabella and consequently the free cheeks (or librigenae) are yoked as a single piece. In some of the eyeless genera (''Ductina'') the suture coincides with the marginal suture, and thus appears to be absent. The part of the skeleton that is "tucked under" (the doublure) has no sutures crossing it to form a rostral plate. The thorax has 11 (rarely 10) segments, the side lobes (or pleurae) are furrowed, and the articulating facets distinct. 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 always smaller than the headshield (or cephalon), a situation called micropygous. In the Phacopidae a merger of the anterior and the two pairs of neighbouring lobes of the

glabella The glabella, in humans, is the area of skin between the eyebrows and above the nose. The term also refers to the underlying bone that is slightly depressed, and joins the two brow ridges. It is a cephalometric landmark that is just superior to ...

forms a frontal lobe that expands forward and can be inflated and overhanging the frontal border. To the back of the glabella two furrows (or sometimes one) cross the glabella forming two rings ("intercalating ring" and "occipital ring"). The cephalon does not end in genal spines. The side lobes of the thorax (or pleurae, singular pleura) have rounded ends. The pygidium is well rounded, semicircular or shorter, with an entire margin, and without lateral and posterior projections. In many Phacopidae, where the facial sutures are apparently continuous and well developed, they were evidently nonfunctional in ecdysis, since no separate free cheeks can be found.

Taxonomy

The Phacopinae likely have evolved from the Pterygometopidae, and the presumed

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

is '' Podowrinella''.

Distribution

The earliest species and the only one known from the Ordovician (upper Katian) is ''Sambremeusaspis fossesensis''. The Phacopidae became a prominent family during the Silurian and had an enormous taxonomic diversity during the Devonian.

Genera

The following genera are included:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7179953 Phacopoidea Trilobite families Late Ordovician first appearances Late Devonian animals Late Devonian extinctions