Miraspis

Miraspis; Temporal range: Wenlock
	Artist's reconstruction
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	†Trilobita
Order:	†Odontopleurida
Family:	†Odontopleuridae
Genus:	†Miraspis; Richter & Richter, 1917
Type species
	Odontopleura mira; Barrande, 1846

Miraspis mira is a spinose species of odontopleurid trilobite in the family Odontopleuridae. Fossils of M. mira are known from the Wenlock-aged in Loděnice, in Bohemia, Czech Republic, originally described by Joachim Barrande, in 1846, as "Odontopleura mira." In 1917, Richter and Richter split "O. mira" off into its own genus, Miraspis.

The spines of M. mira are either smooth, or are fringed with smaller spines. M. mira is notable among odontopleurids in that the living animals had compound eyes set upon tall eyestalks (these eyestalks are often broken off in many, if not most specimens). M. mira also coexisted with its close relative, Odontopleura ovalis.

References[]

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