A note on the trilobite genus Dixiphopyge

Recovery of the first nearly complete thoracopygon of the trilobite genus Dixiphopyge Brezinski from the Chouteau Formation of central Missouri aids in evaluating the paleoecology and taxonomic affinities of this genus. Dixiphopyge is an isopygous trilobite, suboval in outline, and possessing nine thoracic segments. At the apex of each axial ring is a hollow tubercle that may represent the base of a short spine. Dixiphopyge inhabited muddy biostrome environments. In an enrolled position Dixiphopyge is interpreted to have looked somewhat like a porcupine with its spines radiating outward, presumably to inhibit its consumption by predators. Previous subfamily assignment of Dixiphopyge in the Otarioninae with Cyphaspis and Namuropyge may have been incorrect, because the latter two genera possess broad preglabellar fields and are micropygous.