Emuellidae Temporal range: 517 Ma late Botomian |
|
---|---|
Balcoracania dailyi of the Emuellidae family Lower Cambrian Emu Shale Kangaroo Island, South Australia © Dave Simpson |
|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Trilobita |
Order: | Redlichiida |
Suborder: | Redlichiina |
Superfamily: |
Emuelloidea Pocock, 1970 |
Families | |
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 what are today South-Australia and Antarctica. Emuelloidea can be recognized by having a prothorax consisting of 3 or 6 segments, the most backward one of which is carrying very large trailing spines. Behind it is the so-called opistothorax. There are two families, the Emuellidae (with a prothorax of six segments) and the Megapharanaspididae (with a prothorax of three segments).