Proetus (trilobite)

Proetus is a genus of proetid trilobite found in Silurian-aged marine strata of Europe.[1][2]

Not to be confused with the mythological figure of the same name or the similarly-named mythological figure Proteus.

Proetus
Temporal range: Wenlock
Fossil of P. concinnus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Trilobita
Order:
Proetida
Family:
Proetidae
Subfamily:
Proetinae
Genus:
Proetus

Steininger, 1831
Type species
Calymene concinna
Dalman, 1827
Species

See text

Etymology
Comparison of P. concinnus and Ainiktozoon

The generic name commemorates Proetus (Greek: Προῖτος), a mythical king of Argos and Tiryns, son of King Abas of Argo.

Taxonomy
Cladogram of the genera of the subfamily Proetinae, according to Lieberman, 1994, figures 5 and 6[1]

Proetus is the type genus of the order Proetida, and of the family Proetidae. The genus became a wastebasket taxon that held numerous species of similar looking trilobites from the Ordovician to Carboniferous periods. Most of these species have been split off into other genera, leaving only P. concinnus and P. latifrons as the only confirmed members.[1]

Distribution

Fossils of the type species, P. concinnus, are found in Wenlock-aged marine strata of Sweden, Great Britain, Estonia, and Germany. Fossils of the other recognized species, P. latifrons, are found in Llandovery-aged marine strata of Ireland and Great Britain.[1]

References
  1. 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.
  2. Storey, Andrew James. Late Silurian trilobite palaeobiology and biodiversity. Diss. University of Birmingham, 2012.


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