Zacanthoides is an extinct Cambrian genus of corynexochid trilobite. It was a nektobenthic predatory carnivore. Its remains have been found in Canada (British Columbia, especially in the Burgess Shale, and Newfoundland), Greenland, Mexico, and the United States (Alaska, Nevada, Utah, Vermont, and Idaho for which Z. idahoensis is named).[1] Its major characteristics are a slender exoskeleton with 9 thoracic segments, pleurae with long spines, additional spines on the axial rings, and a pygidium that is considerably smaller than its cephalon.[2]

Zacanthoides
Scientific classification
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Zacanthoides

Walcott, 1888

Species edit

  • Z. idahoensis
  • Z. kelsayae
  • Z. romingeri (type species)
  • Z. holopygus (unrecognized)
  • Z. gilberti (unrecognized)

Synonyms edit

Embolimus is a synonym.[3][4]

References edit

  1. ^ "Zacanthoides" Paleobiology Database, accessed March 28, 2011
  2. ^ Coppold, Murray and Wayne Powell (2006). A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale, p.58. The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, Field, British Columbia. ISBN 0-9780132-0-4.
  3. ^ Jell, P.A. & J.M. Adrain 2003. "Available generic names for trilobites" (PDF). (1.52 MiB) Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 48(2): 331-553. [see also Alphabetical Listing of Trilobite Generic Names
  4. ^ Sepkoski, J.J. Jr. 2002. A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. D.J. Jablonski & M.L. Foote (eds.). Bulletins of American Paleontology 363: 1–560. Sepkoski's Online Genus Database

External links edit