PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Sphaerexochus

Artiopoda - Phacopida - Cheiruridae

Taxonomy

Sphaerexochus was named by Beyrich (1845). Its type is Sphaerexochus mirus.

It was assigned to Cheirurinae by Raymond (1916); to Sphaerexochinae by Owen (1981); to Phacopida by Sepkoski (2002); and to Cheiruridae by Warburg (1925), Jell and Adrain (2002).

Species lacking formal opinion data

S. arcuatus, S. balclatchiensis, S. centeo, S. conusoides, S. dimorphis, S. filius, S. lanei, S. lorum, S. paramirus, S. roemingeri

Sister genera

Sphaerometopus

Synonyms

Sphaerometopus was named by Angelin (1854).

It was considered a nomen nudum by Jell and Adrain (2002).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1845	Sphaerexochus Beyrich
1854	Sphaerometopus Angelin
1916	Sphaerexochus Raymond p. 41
1925	Sphaerexochus Warburg
1981	Sphaerexochus Owen
2002	Sphaerexochus Jell and Adrain p. 447
2002	Sphaerexochus Sepkoski

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Protostomia
—	Ecdysozoa	Aguinaldo et al. 1997
—	Panarthropoda
phylum	Arthropoda	Gravenhorst 1843

Rank	Name	Author
class	Artiopoda	Hou and Bergstrom
class	Trilobita	Walch 1771
order	Phacopida	Salter 1864
suborder	Cheirurina	Harrington and Leanza 1957
family	Cheiruridae	Hawle and Corda 1847
subfamily	Sphaerexochinae	Opik 1937
genus	Sphaerexochus	Beyrich 1845

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Sphaerexochus Beyrich 1845

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†Sphaerexochus arenosis Chatterton and Ludvigsen 1977

†Sphaerexochus arenosus Chatterton and Ludvigsen 1976

†Sphaerexochus atacius Ludvigsen 1979

†Sphaerexochus brandlyi Chatterton and Perry 1984

†Sphaerexochus bridgei Cooper and Kindle 1936

†Sphaerexochus britanicus Dean 1971

†Sphaerexochus calvus Mc Coy 1846

Invalid names: Sphaerexochus angustifrons Angelin 1854 [synonym], Sphaerexochus latirugatus Reed 1896 [synonym], Sphaerexochus mirus Beyrich 1845 [synonym]

†Sphaerexochus desertus Billings 1865

†Sphaerexochus dimorphus Whittington and Evitt 1953

†Sphaerexochus discrepans Raymond 1925

†Sphaerexochus eurys Tripp 1962

†Sphaerexochus fibrisulcatus Lu 1975

†Sphaerexochus glaber Holloway 1980

†Sphaerexochus hapsidotus Whittington and Evitt 1953

†Sphaerexochus hiratai Kobayashi and Hamada 1974

†Sphaerexochus hisingeri Warburg 1925

Invalid names: Calymene clavifrons Hisinger 1840 [synonym]

†Sphaerexochus johnstoni Chatterton and Perry 1984

†Sphaerexochus laciniatus Lindström 1885

†Sphaerexochus latifrons Angelin 1854

†Sphaerexochus molongloensis Chatterton and Campbell 1980

†Sphaerexochus parvus Billings 1865

†Sphaerexochus planirachis Kobayashi and Hamada 1974

†Sphaerexochus pulcher Whittington and Evitt 1953

†Sphaerexochus romingeri Hall 1868

†Sphaerexochus scabridus Angelin 1854

†Sphaerexochus tuberculatus Warburg 1925

†Sphaerexochus valcourensis Shaw and Bolton 2011

Invalid names: Sphaerometopus Angelin 1854 [nomen nudum]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

low Mg calcitec

Composition 2:

chitinc

Entire body:

yesg

Adult length:

10 to < 100g

Adult width:

10 to < 100g

Spines:

minorg

Ontogeny:

molting, addition of partsc

Environment:

marinec

Locomotion:

fast-movingc

Life habit:

low-level epifaunalc

Diet:

carnivoref

Vision:

well-developedg

Comments:

BODY SIZE: Data from Harrington et al. (1959).g

Created:

2009-06-09 12:26:29

Modified:

2010-01-10 03:55:17

Source: g = genus, f = family, c = class

References: Hendy 2009, Harrington et al. 1959, Aberhan et al. 2004

Age range: base of the Billingen to the top of the Ludfordian or 475.60000 to 422.70000 Ma

Collections (219 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Arenig	477.1 - 468.0	Sweden	S. sp. (3196)
Billingen	475.6 - 471.3	Sweden (Närne)	S. sp. (192903)
Chazyan	471.3 - 457.3	Canada (Northwest Territories)	S. arenosus (24621 25932 25933 25935 26054 26055 26057) S. sp. (315)
Chazyan	471.3 - 457.3	USA (New York)	S. parvus (56184 56212 56215 171704 172310 172317 172318 172320 172322 172323 172328 172329)
Chazyan	471.3 - 457.3	Canada (Quebec)	S. sp. (305 307 311 435)
Whiterockian	471.3 - 457.3	Canada (Quebec)	S. parvus (111361 111363 111431 111432 111441 111461 111464)
Whiterockian	471.3 - 457.3	USA (New York)	S. parvus (103000 103001 103002 103005 103017 103279 103282 103314 103316)
Whiterockian	471.3 - 457.3	USA (Vermont)	S. parvus (103276 103281 103291 103292 103293 103295 103298)
Whiterockian	471.3 - 457.3	USA (Oklahoma)	S. sp. (105636)
Chazyan - Caradoc	471.3 - 449.5	Canada (Northwest Territories)	S. sp. (25308 25309 25310)
Youngest occurrences
Time interval	Ma	Country or state	PBDB collection number
Gorstian	426.7 - 425.0	Czechia	S. paramirus (14049 14104 14106)
Gorstian - Ludfordian	426.7 - 422.7	Sweden (Gotland)	S. laciniatus (13617)
Gorstian - Ludfordian	426.7 - 422.7	Czechia	S. paramirus (14066)
Ludlow	426.7 - 422.7	Japan (Skikoku)	S. hiratai (188692)
Ludlow	426.7 - 422.7	Japan (Shikoku)	S. hiratai, S. planirachis (188690)
Ludfordian	425.0 - 422.7	USA (Indiana)	S. sp., S. romingeri (6706)
Ludfordian	425.0 - 422.7	Uzbekistan	S. mirus (216475 216476)
Ludfordian	425.0 - 422.7	Sweden (Gotland)	S. laciniatus (13569) S. sp., S. laciniatus (13616)
Ludfordian	425.0 - 422.7	Australia (New South Wales)	S. lorum (25634 25635)
Ludfordian	425.0 - 422.7	Czechia	S. paramirus (14057)