Oryctocephalus

Oryctocephalus Temporal range: Burgess Shale PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	†Trilobita
Order:	†Corynexochida
Family:	†Oryctocephalidae
Genus:	†Oryctocephalus Walcott 1886
Species
Oryctocephalus burgessensis Resser 1938 Oryctocephalus indicus Reed 1910 Oryctocephalus matthewi Rasetti 1951 Oryctocephalus reynoldsi Reed 1899 Oryctocephalus reticulatus Lermontova 1940

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]

References

1. Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS 21 (5): 451–65. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR 20173022.
2. 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.
3. 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

• "Oryctocephalus reynoldsi". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011.