''Fallotaspis'' is a genus of redlichiid

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, ...

found in Early

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 ...

-aged strata of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 ...

Etymology

The generic name, Fallotaspis, is a compound crassis word that honors Paul Fallot (1889-1960), a French

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

who researched Cambrian fossils in Spain, in combination with the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

word ἀσπίς, ''aspis'', meaning shield.

Description

As with most early trilobites, ''Fallotaspis'' has an almost flat exoskeleton, that is only thinly calcified, and has crescent-shaped eye ridges. As part of the Olenellina suborder, ''Fallotaspis'' lacks dorsal sutures. As part of the superfamily Fallotaspidoidea ''Fallotaspis'' can be distinguished from

Olenelloidea The Olenelloidea are a superfamily of trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods. They lived during the late Lower Cambrian and species occurred on all paleocontinents. Taxonomy Palmer and Repina assigned '' Gabriellus'' and '' Callavi ...

Judomioidea The Judomioidea are a superfamily of trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods. Its species lived during the Lower Cambrian (Atdabanian Cambrian Stage 3 is the still unnamed third stage of the Cambrian. It succeeds Cambrian Stage 2 and ...

and Nevadioidea by features of the

cephalon Cephalon, Inc. was an American biopharmaceutical company co-founded in 1987 by pharmacologist Frank Baldino Jr., Frank Baldino, Jr., neuroscientist Michael Lewis, and organic chemist James C. Kauer—all three former scientists with the DuPont ...

and in particular the

glabella The glabella, in humans, is the area of skin between the eyebrows and above the nose. The term also refers to the underlying bone that is slightly depressed, and joins the two brow ridges. It is a cephalometric landmark that is just superior ...

. The glabella tapers forward. The frontal lobe of the glabella (because it is counted from the back, it is numbered L4) is as long as the most backward lobe (L0), less than in these other Olenellina subfamilies. The eye ridges (or ocular lobes) contact, but do not merge with, the entire frontal margin of the glabella. The cephalon of ''Fallotaspis'' is semi-circular in shape, with rounded cheeks that are continuous with long spines that go back to the first half of the thorax. Sutures absent. The

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of 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 di ...

has up to 21 segments. The third segment terminating in a long spine that extends back to the fourteenth segment. The tail shield (or

pygidium The pygidium (: 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 compos ...

) is very small, about the same length as the two most backward thorax segments combined.

Key to the species

This key is based on the analysis of Lieberman. This key only includes the two ''Fallotaspis'' species that Lieberman included in his analysis, where the literature suggests there may be at least ten species. It complements the key in the

Fallotaspidoidea The ”Fallotaspidoidea” are a Superfamily (biology), superfamily of Trilobita, trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods. It lived during the Lower Cambrian (Atdabanian)Whittington, H. B. et al. Part O, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontol ...

article.

Sources

Photo of F. longa

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5432425 Fossils of Morocco Fallotaspidoidea Cambrian trilobites