Olenellina is a suborder of the order

Redlichiida Redlichiida is an Order (biology), order of trilobites, a group of extinct Marine habitats, marine arthropods. Species assigned to the order Redlichiida are among the first trilobites to appear in the fossil record, about halfway during the Lowe ...

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 occurs about halfway during the Lower Cambrian, at the start of the stage called the

Atdabanian Cambrian Stage 3 is the still unnamed third stage of the Cambrian. It succeeds Cambrian Stage 2 and precedes Cambrian Stage 4, although neither its base nor top have been formally defined. The plan is for its lower boundary to correspond approx ...

. The earliest trilobites in the fossil record are arguably Olenellina, although the earliest

Redlichiina Redlichiina is a suborder of the order Redlichiida of Trilobites. The suborder contains three superfamilies: Emuelloidea, Redlichioidea and Paradoxidoidea. These trilobites are some of the oldest trilobites known. They originated at the begin ...

and

Eodiscina Eodiscina is trilobite suborder. The Eodiscina first developed near the end of the Lower Cambrian period (late Atdabanian) and became extinct at the end of the Middle Cambrian. Species are tiny to small, and have a thorax of two or three segments. ...

follow quickly. The suborder died out when the Lower passed into the Middle Cambrian, at the end of the stage called Toyonian. A feature uniting the Olenellina is the lack of rupture lines (or sutures) in the headshield, which in other trilobites assist the periodic moulting (or ecdysis), associated with arthropod growth. Some derived trilobites have lost facial sutures again (some

, all Agnostina, and a few

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 ...

), but all of these are blind, while all Olenellina have eyes.

Taxonomy

The suborder contains four superfamilies: Olenelloidea (with 3 families and 5 stemgroup genera), Judomioidea (with 1 family and 3 stemgroup genera), Nevadioidea, and Fallotaspidoidea (with 3 families and 3 stemgroup genera). Lieberman, 2002, considered that the Fallotaspidoidea are a paraphyletic group because it gave rise to the Redlichiina; he did not propose to restrict the Olenellina to the Olenelloidea, Judomioidea and Nevadioidea. Neither did he propose to assign this group of superfamilies to a newly formed order Olenellida, and consequently expand the Redlichiina to include the Fallotaspidoidea. This would imply that the Redlichiina would include taxa with and without dorsal sutures.

Distribution

The Olenellina appear suddenly at the start of the Cambrian Series 2 (between Stage 2

Tommotian Stage 2 of the Cambrian is the unnamed upper stage of the Terreneuvian Series. It lies atop the Fortunian and below Stage 3 of the Cambrian. It is commonly referred to as the Tommotian, after the Cambrian stratigraphy of Siberia. Neither the upp ...

and Stage 3

) approximately million years ago, and disappear at the end of this Series (between Stage 4 Toyonian and Stage 5 Amgan), to million years ago. The Olenellina probably first occurred on the

paleocontinent A paleocontinent or palaeocontinent is a distinct area of continental crust that existed as a major landmass in the geological past. There have been many different landmasses throughout Earth's time. They range in sizes, some are just a collection ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

and spread into the part of Gondwana that is now the Atlas Mountains,

Baltica Baltica is a paleocontinent that formed in the Paleoproterozoic and now constitutes northwestern Eurasia, or Europe north of the Trans-European Suture Zone and west of the Ural Mountains. The thick core of Baltica, the East European Craton, ...

, Avalonia and

Laurentia Laurentia or the North American Craton is a large continental craton that forms the ancient geological core of North America. Many times in its past, Laurentia has been a separate continent, as it is now in the form of North America, althoug ...

. In western Laurentia the first representatives to appear are Fallotaspididae, followed by Archaeaspididae, Nevadioidea and Holmiidae, and finally Biceratopsidae and Olenellidae. The Olenellina are not known from South China, Australia and most of Latin America and Africa, where the first trilobites were

, that had already developed dorsal sutures.

Description

As with most early trilobites, the Olenellina have an almost flat

exoskeleton An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...

, that is only thinly calcified, and have crescent-shaped eye ridges. The suborder differs from all other trilobites by the lack of dorsal sutures in the head shield (or cephalon). There is a

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

mouth plate (or conterminant hypostome) with a very wide rostral plate extending between genal angles, with a perrostral suture (no connective sutures). The

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

may be composed of a

prothorax The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum ( dorsal), the prosternum ( ventral), and the propleuron ( lateral) o ...

that generally has 14 or 15 segments, and an opisthothorax that has between 0 and up to 34 segments. In segment 3, the areas right and left of the axis (or pleural lobes) are often enlarged, sometimes carrying large trailing pleural spines. Segment 14 or 15 is often bearing a large spine at midline that points backwards. The

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 mostly very small with few segments, that are often difficult to discern. Unlike in other trilobite groups, the early larval stage called protaspid is not known, and it is generally accepted that this is because the protaspid was not calcified.

Key to the superfamilies

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q145414 Redlichiida Cambrian trilobites Cambrian trilobites of Asia Cambrian trilobites of Europe Cambrian trilobites of North America Cambrian animals of Africa Cambrian Series 2 first appearances Cambrian Series 2 extinctions Arthropod suborders