Cyclopygoidea is a superfamily of

trilobites Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, ...

in the order

Asaphida Asaphida is a large, morphologically diverse order of trilobites found in marine strata dated from the Middle Cambrian until their extinction during the Silurian. Asaphida contains six superfamilies (Anomocaroidea, Asaphoidea, Cyclopygoidea, Di ...

, containing the

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

Cyclopygidae Cyclopygidae is a family of asaphida, asaphid trilobites from the Ordovician. Cyclopygids had an extratropical Range (biology), distribution, and there is evidence that they lived in mesopelagic, darker parts of the water column (around 175m dee ...

Nileidae Nileidae is a family of trilobites of the Asaphida order. These fast-moving nektonic carnivores lived in the Ordovician and Cambrian periods. Genera *''Aocaspis'' Dolambi and Gond 1992 *''Barrandia'' McCoy 1849 *''Borthaspidella'' Rasetti 1954 ...

, Symphysurinidae, and Taihungshaniidae. Some subgroups such as the

are thought to have lived in the water column in the deep sea, where as the unrelated telephinids such as ''

Carolinites ''Carolinites'' is a genus of trilobite, assigned to the Telephinidae family, that occurs during the Lower and Middle Ordovician. ''Carolinites'' had a pantropical distribution, and there is evidence that it lived in upper parts of the water co ...

'' inhabited

epipelagic The photic zone (or euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone) is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological ...

depths around the same time. Some members of the family

were moved outside of it. The first cyclopygoids were of the family Simphysurinidae such as '' Symphysurina'' in

Furongian The Furongian is the fourth and final epoch and series of the Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding ...

(late

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

)

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

References

Further reading