Bathyuriscus is an extinct genus of Cambrian trilobite. It was a nektobenthic predatory carnivore. The genus Bathyuriscus is endemic to the shallow seas that surrounded Laurentia. Its major characteristics are a large forward-reaching glabella, pointed pleurae or pleurae with very short spines, and a medium pygidium with well-impressed furrows. Complete specimens have never reached the size of 7 cm predicted by the largest pygidium found. Bathyuriscus is often found with the free cheeks shed, indicating a moulted exoskeleton.Coppold, Murray and Wayne Powell (2006). A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale, p.56. The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, Field, British Columbia. . An average specimen will in addition have a furrowed glabella, crescent-shaped eyes, be semi-circular in overall body shape, have 7 to 9 thoracic segments, and a length of about 1.5 inches.
Etymology Bathyuriscus is a variation of Bathyurus, originally based on the Ancient Greek βαθύς (bathys) "deep", oura, "tail", thus, a trilobite with a deep tail.
Distribution Species belonging to Bathyuriscus have been found in the Marjumian of the United States (New York) and in the Middle Cambrian of Australia, Canada (British Columbia, especially in the Burgess Shale, and Newfoundland), Greenland, Mexico, and the United States (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Vermont)."Bathyuriscus" Paleobiology Database, accessed March 28, 2011
References
Shah, S.K., Parcha, S.K. & Raina, A.K. (1991). Late Cambrian trilobites from Himalaya. Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India 36:89-107. Robison, R.A. (1964). Late Middle Cambrian Faunas from Western Utah. Journal of Paleontology 38(3):510-566
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