Aayemenaytcheia

Aayemenaytcheia
Temporal range: 407–392Ma

Emsian/Eifelian

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Trilobita
Order: Proetida
Family: Proetidae
Subfamily: Proetinae
Genus: Aayemenaytcheia
Lieberman, 1994
Species
  • A. paragranulata (Ormiston, 1967) (type) synonym Dechenella paragranulata

Aayemenaytcheia is a genus of trilobite.

Etymology

The genus name is the vocalisation of the acronym AMNH of the American Museum of Natural History and the suffix -ia (so Aay-Em-En-Aytche-ia), in gratitude for funding Lieberman's research. The species epithet paragranulata refers to the fact that the species was first regarded as closely related to Dechenella granulata.[1]

Distribution

A. paragranulata has been collected from the Devonian of Canada (Emsian and Eifelian, Blue Fjord Formation, Bathurst Island, Nunavut).[1]

Taxonomy

Cladogram of the genera of the subfamily Proetinae, according to Lieberman, 1994, figures 5 and 6

Aayemenaytcheia paragranulata was originally regarded a species belonging to the genus Dechenella. Recent cladistic analysis however makes it likely the species is in fact the earliest branche of a clade that further includes Lacunoporaspis, Dechenella, Schizoproetus and Schizoproetoides. So in order to retain the monophyly of the genus Dechenella, a new genus has been erected for D. paragranulata.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lieberman, B.S. (1994). "Evolution of the trilobite subfamily Proetinae Salter, 1864, and the origin, diversification, evolutionary affinity, and extinction of the Middle Devonian Proetic fauna of Eastern North America". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 223: 1–176.

External links