Summary
Arctinurus boltoni is a large (up to 30 cm) lichid trilobite of the mid-Silurian. This trilobite reached about eight inches in length, though the normal adult carapace was about four inches. It lived in moderately deep-water in semi-tropical regions. Arctinurus fossils have been found in Europe and North America.
| Arctinurus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Fossil of Arctinurus boltoni in the Field Museum of Natural History. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | †Trilobita |
| Order: | †Lichida |
| Family: | †Lichidae |
| Genus: | †Arctinurus Castelnau, 1843 |
| Species: | †A. boltoni
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| Binomial name | |
| †Arctinurus boltoni (Bigsby, 1825)
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Arctinurus was first reported during the construction of the Erie Canal through soft Silurian shales and mudstones in upstate New York.[1] Before the late 1990s, complete Arctinurus fossils were very rare. The vast majority of complete specimens were commercially mined near Middleport New York, USA, in a shallow quarry in the Rochester Formation, and the trilobite is now relatively common in museum, university and private collections. Arctinurus tended to have epibionts attached to the carapace.
References edit
- ^ Bigsby, John Jeremiah (1825). "Description of a New Species of Trilobite". Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 4 (2). Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia: 365–368 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- Whiteley, Thomas E; Kloc, Gerald J; Brett, Carleton E (2003). Trilobites of New York: An Illustrated Guide. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. ISBN 9780801439698.
- Ludvigsen, Rolf (1982). Fossils of Ontario. Part 1: The Trilobites. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum. ISBN 9780888542212.