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Additional Information
Description:
Burlingia ovata is a small Middle Cambrian trilobite from South-East China.
The first three specimens of this strange little trilobite were found by Lancaster Burling when he accompanied Charles Walcott on his first visit to Mount Stephen in 1907. burlingiids have consistently proven difficult to fit into any current trilobite phylogeny. Dorsal shields vary from nearly circular to elongate ovoid in outline and specimens appear almost flat due to mechanical distortion and compression of the very thin exoskeleton. The cephalon has a semicircular to rounded triangular shape with the genal corners acutely angled, but not drawn out into spines.
Cambrian Burlingiid trilobites are of enigmatic origin and uncertain systematic affinity. Their relationship with other Cambrian trilobites is obscure and they cannot, with confidence, be related to any post-Cambrian trilobites such as the Phacopids.
References:
Burlingia - Wikipedia
Burlingia - ROM
Burlingiid Trilobites from Norway
Vendor: fossil soup - ZZ
SKU Number: SQ5388284
Rhombampyx yii trilobite from the Middle Ordovician, Meitan Formation, Zunyi, Guizhou, China.
The distinct oval/rhomboid dome where the anterior needle spine meets the head is the highly inflated glabella. It is slightly compressed but shows the distinctive bulbous shape unique to raphiophorids.
You can clearly see a thin, straight line pointing straight up from the top of the glabella. This is the base of the median snout spine.
The two elongated cheek spines can be seen on either side of the body. In life, these spines flared outward to stabilize the animal or deter predators, but post-mortem movement or burial compaction has curved it around the cephalon.
Full dimensions are listed below.