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''Dicranurus'' (Greek, 'dikranon', a pitchfork, and 'oura', tail) is a genus of
/ref>
* Fossil Mall's description of ''D. elegans'
* Fossil Mall's description of ''D. hamatus'
* Fossil Museum's description of ''D. monstrosus'
''Dicranurus'' (Greek, 'dikranon', a pitchfork, and 'oura', tail) is a genus of Lower
Lower may refer to:
* ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick
Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...
to Middle Devonian
In the geological timescale, the Middle Devonian epoch (from 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago to 382.7 ± 1.6 million years ago) occurred during the Devonian period, after the end of the Emsian age.
The Middle Devonian epoch is subdivided into two ...
odontopleurid trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most succ ...
s that lived in a shallow sea that lay between Euramerica
Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pa ...
and Gondwana
Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...
, corresponding to modern-day Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
and New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, and Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, respectively. As such, their fossils are found in New York, Oklahoma, and Morocco. Their bodies averaged about or so, in length, though their large spines made them at least in length.Such tremendous spines ar speculated to have hampered the ability of predators, such as arthrodire
Arthrodira (Greek for "jointed neck") is an Order (biology), order of extinct armored, jawed fishes of the class Placodermi that flourished in the Devonian period before their sudden extinction, surviving for about 50 million years and penetratin ...
placoderm
Placoderms (from Ancient Greek πλάξ 'plax'', ''plakos'''Plate (animal anatomy), plate' and δέρμα 'derma'''skin') are vertebrate animals of the class (biology), class Placodermi, an extinct group of prehistoric fish known from Pal ...
s, to attack them, and to help prevent them from sinking into the soft mud of their environment. ''Dicranurus'' trilobites are distinguished from other odontopleurids by the pair of large, curled, horn-like spines that emanate from behind the glabellum. The genus name refers to these distinctive horns, in fact.
In popular culture
*''Dicranurus'' was an inspiration for an early version of an alien creature from the 2012 movie ''Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...
''. While the final design does not look much like ''Dicranurus'', the creature is still referred to as "trilobite" due to its inspiration.Monster Legacy: Before StarBeast — Prometheus/ref>
External links
* Description of Haragan Formation, Oklahom* Fossil Mall's description of ''D. elegans'
* Fossil Mall's description of ''D. hamatus'
* Fossil Museum's description of ''D. monstrosus'
Sources