Eldredgeops


Eldredgeops is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, known from the late Middle and earliest Upper Devonian of Morocco and the USA.

Description

Like in all sighted Phacopina, the eyes of Eldredgeops are composed of very large, separately set lenses without a common cornea, and like almost all other Phacopina, the articulate mid-length part of the body in Eldredgeops has 11 segments.
In contrast to the related Phacops, Eldredgeops generally has a raised ridge along the ventral margin of the cephalon, the glabella is more inflated, the lateral parts of the preoccipital ring are rectangular, the palpebral area and palpebral lobe are larger than in P. latifrons, and there is no fold right behind the posterior vertical row of lenses nor an isolated raised area just below the lenses.

Distribution

All phacopids died out in North America during the Kačák Event at the end of the Eifelian. The phacopids returned to North America during the early Givetian with the emigration of Eldredgeops species from Morocco.

Taxonomy

The species included in Eldredgeops were previously regarded as belonging to Phacops. It was considered however that the post-Eifelian North-American relatives of P. rana differ sufficiently from those found in Africa and Europe to be assigned to a separate genus. The new name is used for the North American species as the type species Phacops latifrons is European. However, old combinations like Phacops rana are widely used among fossil collectors. Pre-Givetian North-American species previously included in Phacops have also been reassigned, such as P. cristatus, P. microps and P. raymondi, P. cambelli, P. birdsongensis, P. claviger and P. logani.

Species and occurrence