''Fallotaspis'' is a genus of

redlichiid Redlichiida is an order of trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods. Species assigned to the order Redlichiida are among the first trilobites to appear in the fossil record, about halfway during the Lower Cambrian. Due to the difficulty ...

trilobites found in Early

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

-aged strata of the United States and Morocco.

Etymology

The generic name, Fallotaspis, is a compound crassis word that honors

Paul Fallot Paul Fallot (25 June 1889 in Strasbourg – 21 October 1960 in Paris) was a French geologist and paleontologist. Throughout his career the Mediterranean region, and especially Spain, was the focus of his work. Fallot began his studies in 1908 a ...

(1889-1960), a French paleontologist who researched Cambrian fossils in Spain, in combination with the Greek 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, Judomioidea and Nevadioidea by features of the

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

and in particular the glabella. 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 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) 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 article.

Sources

Photo of F. longa

References

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