Bolboparia

Bolboparia Temporal range: Botomian (Olenellus-zone) PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Bolboparia superba, top cephalon dorsal view, bottom cephalon oblique view
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Trilobita
Order:	Agnostida
Suborder:	Eodiscina
Superfamily:	Eodiscoidea
Family:	Weymouthiidae
Genus:	Bolboparia Rasetti, 1966
species
B. superba Rasetti, 1966 (Type) B. canadensis Rasetti, 1966 B. elongata Rasetti, 1966

Bolboparia is an extinct genus of eodiscinid agnostid trilobites. It lived during the late Lower Cambrian in what today Canada and the United States.

Taxonomy

A cladogram showing the relationship between several species of the genera Acidiscus, Bolboparia and Stigmadiscus^[1][2]

Bolboparia is most closely related to Acidiscus and slightly more distantly to Stigmadiscus.

Description

Like all Agnostida, Bolboparia is diminutive and the headshield (or cephalon) and tailshield (or pygidium) are of approximately the same size (or isopygous) and outline. Like all Weymouthiidae, Bolboparia lacks eyes and rupture lines (or sutures). The short, downsloping glabella and the bulging cheeks give it a very peculiar aspect.^[3]

Distribution

• Bolboparia superba and B. elongata are both known from the Lower Cambrian of the United States (unnamed formation, East Chatham Quad, Columbia County, New York State 42°24′N 73°30′W / 42.400°N 73.500°W).^[3][4]
• Bolboparia canadensis is only known from the Lower Cambrian of Canada (Olenellus-zone, calcarenite bed a half mile north of Elgin Station, south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec).^[5]

References

1. Westrop, S.R.; Landing, E. (2011). "Lower Cambrian (Branchian) eodiscoid trilobites from the lower Brigus Formation, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada". Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 42: 209–262.
2. Cotton, T.J.; Fortey, R.A. (2005). "5. Comparative morphology and relationships of the Agnostida". In Koenemann, S. & Jenner, R. Crustacean Issues 16, Crustacea and Arthropod Relationships. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
3. Whittington, H.B. et al. Part O, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Revised, Volume 1 – Trilobita – Introduction, Order Agnostida, Order Redlichiida. 1997
4. Paleobiology Database. "East Chatham Quad, unnamed fm., NY (Cambrian of the United States) (trilobite)". Retrieved 19 December 2012.
5. Rasetti, Franco (1966). "New Lower Cambrian trilobite faunule from the Taconic sequence of New York". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 148 (9): 1–52.