| Dicranurus Fossil range: Devonian |
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 Dicranurus monstrosus
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Dicranurus ("Twin head-tail") was a genus of Lower Devonian lichid trilobites that lived in a shallow sea that lay between Euramerica and Gondwanaland, corresponding to modern-day Oklahoma and Morocco, respectively. The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era spanning from to million years ago. Lichida is an order of typically spiny Trilobite that lived from the Ordovician to the Devonian period Trilobites ("three-lobes" are extinct Arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa As such, their fossils are found in Oklahoma and Morocco.
Their bodies averaged about an inch or so, in length, though their large spines made them at least 2 inches in length. It is speculated that such tremendous spines hampered the ability of predators, such as arthrodire placoderms, to attack them, as well as to help prevent them from sinking into the soft mud of their environment. Arthrodira is an order of extinct armored jawed fishes of the Placodermi class who flourished in the Devonian period before their sudden extinction surviving The Placodermi were a class of armoured Prehistoric fishes known from Fossils which lived from the late Silurian to the end of the Devonian Dicranurus trilobites are distinguished from other lichids by the pair of large, curled, horn-like spines that emanate from behind the glabellum. The genus name refers to these distinctive horns, in fact.
External links
- Description of Haragan Formation, Oklahoma [1]
- Fossil Mall's description of D. elegans [2]
- Fossil Mall's description of D. hamatus [3]
- Fossil Museum's description of D. monstrosus [4]
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