''Thelxiope'' is a genus of

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 ...

and

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

. Four named species are known, the type species ''T. palaeothalassia'' is known from the

Burgess Shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fos ...

, Canada ''T. holmani'' is from the

Wheeler Shale The Wheeler Shale (named by Charles Walcott) is a Cambrian ( 507 Ma) fossil locality world-famous for prolific agnostid and ''Elrathia kingii'' trilobite remains (even though many areas are barren of fossils) and represents a Konzent ...

of Utah, ''Thelxiope tangi'' from the Linyi Lagerstätte of

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

, China, and ''T. spinosa'', which is known from both the Linyi Lagerstätte and the Wheeler Shale. An indeterminate species is also known from the Ordovician (

Floian The Floian is the second stage of the Ordovician Period. It succeeds the Tremadocian with which it forms the Lower Ordovician series. It precedes the Dapingian Stage of the Middle Ordovician. The Floian extended from to million years ago. The ...

)

Fezouata Formation The Fezouata Formation or Fezouata Shale is a geological formation in Morocco which dates to the Ordovician, Early Ordovician.

in Morocco. It is a member of Mollisoniida, alongside close relatives ''

Mollisonia ''Mollisonia'' is an extinct genus of Cambrian marine arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), m ...

'' and '' Corcorania''. They are suggested to be stem-

chelicerates The subphylum Chelicerata (from Neo-Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. Chelicerates include the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, tic ...

References

Burgess Shale fossils Fezouata Formation fossils Prehistoric arthropod genera Ordovician genus extinctions Prehistoric chelicerates {{paleo-arthropod-stub