Illaenidae

Illaenus
Temporal range: Ordovician–Silurian

[1]

Illaenus sarsi, 25mm
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Order: Corynexochida
Family: Illaenidae
Hawle and Corda, 1847

The Illaenidae are a family of trilobites in the order Corynexochida. 223 currently accepted species in 24 genera are known from the Ordovician. Some scholars include the Panderiidae in the Illaenidae, but this is not generally supported.[2]

Distribution

Illaenus? priscus from Salair and Illaenus? berkutensis from the Malyi Karatau, Kazakhstan (both Lower Tremadocian), are both very poorly known and it remains uncertain to which family they could best be assigned. The first certain Illaenid is I. hinomotoensis from the Upper Tremadocian of North China and South Korea. The earliest species known from Laurentia (western Ireland) is I. weaveri, probably latest Floian. These early occurrences are from the tropics, but during the Darriwilian the family spread over southern Gondwana, and became cosmopolitan for the remainder of the Ordovician, although most genera had limited distributions. The genus Stenopareia survived the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events and the family slightly rebounded with 26 species divided over three genera during the Silurian. Quadratillaenus tewoensis from North China is the youngest species known (Přídolí).[2]

Genera

[1]

References

  1. 1 2 The Paleobiology Database
  2. 1 2 D.A.T. Harper, T. Servais, eds. (2014). Early Palaeozoic Biogeography and Palaeogeography. Memoirs of the Geological Society of London 38. Geological Society of London. p. 490. ISBN 1862393737.
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