Hoeferia Redlich, 1899 non Bittner, 1894 Mesodema Whitehouse, 1939 Dongshania Lin in Qiu et al., 1983 Spinoredlichia Liu, 1975
Redlichia is a genus of redlichiidtrilobite in the family Redlichiidae, with large to very large species (up to 35 centimetres or 14 inches long). Fossils of various species are found in Lower Cambrian (Toyonian)-aged marine strata from China, Korea, Pakistan, the Himalayas, Iran, Spain, southern Siberia, and Antarctica, and from Middle Cambrian (Ordian)-aged marine strata of Australia.
Description
Redlichia has a rather flat and thinly calcified dorsalexoskeleton of inverted egg-shaped outline, about 1½× longer than wide, measured across the base of the genal spines and disregarding the spine on the 11th segment of the articulated middle part of the body (or thorax). The headshield (or cephalon) is semicircular, about ⅓× as long as the body, with clear genal spines that are a smooth continuation of the border, that extend backward and outward and curving to be near parallel near their tips, which typically extend to the backhalf of the articulated middle part of the body (or thorax). The thorax consists of 11-17 segments, with the 11th from the front bearing a backward directed spine on the midline.
Taxonomy
Redlich originally named the genus Hoeferia in 1899. It turned out however, that this name was already given to an arcid bivalve by Bittner in 1894, rendering it an unavailable junior homonym. This is why in 1902, Cossmann renamed Hoeferia Redlich, 1899 as Redlichia, in honor of Redlich.
Mesodema Whitehouse, 1939, Dongshania Lin in Qiu et al., 1983, and Spinoredlichia Liu, 1975, are all considered to be synonyms of Redlichia.[4]
Notable species
Comparison of the redlichiid trilobites, Redlichia rex (larger), and R. takooensis, from the Lower Cambrian Kangaroo Island, Australia
The type species, R. noetlingi, is found in Lower Cambrian-aged marine strata of Western Pakistan. A similar species, R. chinensis, is found in Lower Cambrian-aged marine strata of China. R. nobilis, is found in Lower Cambrian-aged marine strata of South Korea. It was originally thought that the Kangaroo Island species, R. takooensis, had a small form and a large form: more thorough studies have concluded that the "large morph" is a distinct, carnivorous, possibly cannibalistic species now named R. rex.[2][5]
Reassigned species
Some of the species that were originally assigned to Redlichia were later moved to other genera.
^ abJames D. Holmes; John R. Paterson; Diego C. García-Bellido (2019). "The trilobite Redlichia from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte of South Australia: systematics, ontogeny and soft-part anatomy". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (4): 295–334. doi:10.1080/14772019.2019.1605411. S2CID196651681.
^Paterson, R.J.; Jago, J.B. (2006). "New trilobites from the Lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte at Big Gully, Kangaroo Island, South Australia". Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 32: 43–57. hdl:1959.14/10651. ISSN0810-8889.
Hagadorn, J.W. (2002). "Burgess Shale-type Localities: The global picture". In Bottjer, D.J.; W. Etter; J.W. Hagadorn; C.M. Tang (eds.). Exceptional Fossil Preservation -- A Unique View on the Evolution of Marine Life. Columbia University Press. ISBN0231102542.
Nedin, C. (1995). "The Emu Bay Shale, a Lower Cambrian fossil Lagerstätte, Kangaroo Island, South Australia". Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 18: 31–40.
