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Asaphidae

Asaphidae
Temporal range: Upper Cambrian–Ordovician
Megistaspidella triangularis - low ord russia.jpg
Megistaspidella triangularis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Order: Asaphida
Family: Asaphidae
Burmeister, 1843
subfamilies
  • Asaphinae
  • Isotelinae
  • Niobinae
  • Ogygiocarellinae

Asaphidae is a family of asaphid trilobites. Although the first genera originate in Upper Cambrian marine strata, the family becomes the most widely distributed and most species-rich trilobite family during the Ordovician. 754 species assigned to 146 genera are included in Asaphidae.

Most Asaphinae are characteristic of Baltica. Isotelinae genera are concentrated in Laurentia. The genera of Nobiliasaphinae are distributed in tropical Gondwana and South China. The genera of Ogygiocaridinae occur in Avalonia, Gondwana and Baltica. Asaphidae asaphids were already fairly common during the Upper-Cambrian, when 14 genera are known from Australia, North- and South-China. The last members of the family died-out at the end of the Ordovician.

Asaphidae contains the following genera:

drawings of many asaphids


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Wikipedia

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