''Fenestraspis'' is an extinct genus of

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 ...

in the order Phacopida from the Upper Pragian and Lower Emsian. ''Fenestraspis'' is unusual because of the development of extensive fenestrae in the posterior part of the body and apparently of 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 ...

, the presence of upwardly directed spines on 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 pygidium, and the exceptionally large and highly elevated eyes.

Distribution

''F. amauta'' is only known from the Lower and Middle Devonian of Bolivia (upper quarter of the Lower Belen Formation, which approximately coincides with the transition from the Pragian to the Emsian, near Chacoma-Cahuanota and Patacamaya).

References

External links

''Fenestraspis''
at the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

Dalmanitidae Devonian trilobites of South America Fossil taxa described in 1973 {{phacopida-stub