Elrathia kingii

Elrathia kingii
	Elrathia kingii
Temporal occurrence
	Cambrian
	approx. 507 million years
Locations
	USA ( Utah , Wheeler Formation );
Systematics
Trunk :	Arthropod (arthropoda)
Class :	Trilobites (Trilobita)
Order :	Ptychopariida
Family :	Alokistocaridae
Genre :	Elrathia
Type :	Elrathia kingii
Scientific name
	Elrathia kingii
	Meek , 1870

Elrathia kingii is a trilobite species from the middle Cambrian of North America. It is the best known and most frequent representative of this very species-richgroup of arthropods in the USA. This trilobite is found only in a few places in the Wheeler Formation in the US state of Utah , but it is found there in huge numbers (up to 500 complete specimens per square meter).

E. kingii is a medium-sized trilobite with a slightly oval carapace that tapers slightly to the pygidium . The thorax usually has 13 segments .

Due to its frequency - commercial collectors have recovered up to 1.5 million copies in 20 years - E. kingii is not only sold to collectors around the world, it can also be found on jewelry , postcards and fridge magnets . E. kingii is the state fossil of Utah due to its abundance and notoriety .

Individual evidence

^ Johnson, K., Troll, R .: Cruising the fossil freeway: An epoch tale of a scientist and an artist on the ultimate 5,000-Mile paleo road trip . Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO. 2007, ISBN 978-1-55591-451-6 .
^ Robert R. Gaines, Mary L. Droser: Paleoecology of the familiar trilobite Elrathia kingii : An early exaerobic zone inhabitant . (pdf) In: Geology . 31, 2003, pp. 941-4. doi : 10.1130 / G19926.1 .
↑ Gunther, LF, Gunther, VG: Some Middle Cambrian Fossils of Utah . In: Brigham Young University Geology Studies . 28, 1981, pp. 1-81.

Web links

Commons : Elrathia kingii - collection of images, videos and audio files

[Johnson_and_Troll-1] Johnson, K., Troll, R .: Cruising the fossil freeway: An epoch tale of a scientist and an artist on the ultimate 5,000-Mile paleo road trip . Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO. 2007, ISBN 978-1-55591-451-6 .

[Gaines_and_Droser03-2] Robert R. Gaines, Mary L. Droser: Paleoecology of the familiar trilobite Elrathia kingii : An early exaerobic zone inhabitant . (pdf) In: Geology . 31, 2003, pp. 941-4. doi : 10.1130 / G19926.1 .

[Guntherx2-3] Gunther, LF, Gunther, VG: Some Middle Cambrian Fossils of Utah . In: Brigham Young University Geology Studies . 28, 1981, pp. 1-81.