''Encrinurus'' is a long-lived
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
phacopid 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 lived in what are now
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
,
Australia,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
,
North America, and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
from the middle
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. ...
to the early
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, w ...
from 472 to 412.3
mya, existing for approximately .
Taxonomy
''Encrinurus'' was named by Emmrich in 1844. Jell and Adrain (2003) list it as a currently valid genus name within the
Phacopida
Phacopida ("lens-face") is an order of trilobites that lived from the Late Cambrian to the Late Devonian. It is made up of a morphologically diverse assemblage of taxa in three related suborders.
Characteristics
Phacopida had 8 to 19 thorac ...
, specifically within the
Encrinuridae.
[P. A. Jell and J. M. Adrain. 2003. Available generic names for trilobites. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 48(2):331-553]
References
Further reading
* ''Fossils'' (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward
* ''Trilobites'' by Riccardo Levi-Setti
* ''Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution'' by E.N.K. Clarkson
* ''Trilobites: Common Trilobites of North America'' (A NatureGuide book) by Jasper Burns
Encrinuridae genera
Ordovician trilobites
Silurian trilobites
Devonian trilobites
Trilobites of Africa
Trilobites of Asia
Trilobites of Oceania
Trilobites of Europe
Trilobites of North America
Ordovician trilobites of South America
Middle Ordovician first appearances
Early Devonian genus extinctions
Paleozoic life of Ontario
Verulam Formation
Paleozoic life of British Columbia
Paleozoic life of Manitoba
Paleozoic life of the Northwest Territories
Paleozoic life of Nunavut
Paleozoic life of Quebec
Fossil taxa described in 1844
{{Phacopida-stub