Oryctocephalus is a genus of trilobite known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. 24 specimens of Oryctocephalus are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.42% of the community.[1] This small- to medium-sized trilobite's major characteristics are prominent eye ridges, pleural spines, long genal spines, spines on the pygidium, and notably four furrows connecting pairs of pits on its glabella.[2] Juvenile specimens have been found with only 5 or 6 thoracic segments and about one eighth of adult size, as well as about 2 mm wide.[3]
| Oryctocephalus Temporal range:
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | †Trilobita |
| Order: | †Corynexochida |
| Family: | †Oryctocephalidae |
| Genus: | †Oryctocephalus Walcott 1886 |
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References edit
- ^ Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. Bibcode:2006Palai..21..451C. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR 20173022. S2CID 53646959.
- ^ Coppold, Murray and Wayne Powell (2006). A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale, p.56. The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, Field, British Columbia. ISBN 0-9780132-0-4.
- ^ Coppold, Murray and Wayne Powell (2006). A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale, p.60. The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, Field, British Columbia. ISBN 0-9780132-0-4.
External links edit
- "Oryctocephalus reynoldsi". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
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