''Megapharanaspis nedini'' is a small (maximally )

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 ...

of the superfamily

Emuelloidea Emuelloidae are a small superfamily of trilobites, a group of extinct marine arthropods, that lived during the late Lower Cambrian (late Botomian) of the East Gondwana supercontinent In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or ...

, within which it occupies a family on its own. Its fossils have been found in the Lower Cambrian of South-Australia.

Etymology

The genus name composed of 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 ...

μέγας (mega), meaning ''great'', pharangos, meaning gully, and ἀσπίς (aspis) shield, referencing Big Gully on

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...

, the only known site where fossils of ''Megapharanaspis'' were collected. The species

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

''nedini'' is in honor of Dr. Chris Nedin.

References

Cambrian trilobites of Australia Emuelloidea Redlichiida genera Cambrian genus extinctions {{Redlichiida-stub