A new aglaspidid euarthropod with a six-segmented trunk from the Lower Ordovician Fezouata Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco

A new euarthropod with an uncommon morphology, Brachyaglaspis singularis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Early Ordovician (middle Floian) Fezouata biota of Morocco. The presence of a pair of postventral plates, widely attached to each other and located under the posterior-most trunk tergite...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geological magazine 2016-05, Vol.153 (3), p.524-536
Main Authors: ORTEGA-HERNÁNDEZ, JAVIER, VAN ROY, PETER, LEROSEY-AUBRIL, RUDY
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Aglaspidida
Arthropoda
Biota
Brachyaglaspis
Brachyaglaspis singularis
Cambrian
Chelicerata
Euarthropoda
faunal studies
Fezouata Formation
Invertebrata
invertebrate
Lagerstatten
Lower Ordovician
Morocco
Morphology
new taxa
North Africa
Ordovician
Original Articles
Paleontology
Paleozoic
Phylogenetics
shells
Tachilla Formation
Taxonomy
Tremaglaspis
Zagora Morocco
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Summary:A new euarthropod with an uncommon morphology, Brachyaglaspis singularis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Early Ordovician (middle Floian) Fezouata biota of Morocco. The presence of a pair of postventral plates, widely attached to each other and located under the posterior-most trunk tergite and the base of the tailspine, indicates a phylogenetic relationship with the enigmatic group Aglaspidida. The overall morphology of Brachyaglaspis most closely resembles that of the ‘Ordovician-type’ aglaspidids, more specifically the late Cambrian – Early Ordovician genus Tremaglaspis. However, the presence of a prominent cephalon and only six trunk tergites in the new genus deviates from the organization of all other known aglaspidid species, notably extending the known range of morphological disparity of the group. A taxonomic revision of this euarthropod group indicates that the most accurate name and authorship combination correspond to Aglaspidida Walcott, 1912.
ISSN:0016-7568
1469-5081
DOI:10.1017/S0016756815000710