Taxonomy and history of the Trilobites (ARTHROPODA: ARACHNOMORPHA) of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago

Abstract

105 trilobites are here described which had remained unattended for more than a century. Phacopida, Redlichiida, Asaphida and Proetida are distinguished distributed across twenty species and seven families. The age and a possible geographic origin are proposed based on the identification and labels available. The most of the specimens would have been recollected from the Devonian outcrops in Bolivia with endemic representatives of the "Malvinokaffric Realm" [Metacryphaeus rotundatus?, Eldredgeia eocryphaea, Wolfartaspis cornutus, Wolfartaspis liebermani, Plesiomalvinella boulei, Malvinella buddeae, Vogesina lacunafera, Pennaia verneuili, Paciphacops (Viaphacops) orurensis, Schizostylus (Schizostylus) cf. brevicaudatus, Paciphacops (Paciphacops) aff. waisfeldae, Vogesina cf. aspera]. The remaining samples most likely proceed from Devonian Germany [Gerastos cuvieri] and North America [Eldredgeops milleri], Ordovician and Silurian Czech Republic [Dalmanitina cf. socialis and Pseudocheirurus beyrichi, respectively], Cambrian-Ordovician England [Pseudoasaphus? sp.] and possibly from the Ordovician Baltoscandia (Northeastern Europe) [Asaphus? sp.]. Cambrian samples [Ellipsocephallus hoffi? and Paradoxides gracilis] are the most ancient fossils located in this museum. Using the original labels this collection is tracked down to the R.A. Philippi epoch in the nineteenth century. This work is a contribution to the Chilean museology as well as the scientific and patrimonial research.