{{Short description|Extinct genus of trilobites}} {{Automatic taxobox |fossil_range = Early Arenig<ref name="strata.ummp">{{cite journal |last=Sepkoski |first=Jack |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Trilobita entry) |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=364 |page=560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=307&rank=class |accessdate=2008-01-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905162524/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=307&rank=class |archivedate=2006-09-05 }}</ref> |image = Cloacaspis.jpg |image_caption = ''Cloacaspis senilis'', and ''C. ekphymosa'' |taxon = Cloacaspis |authority = Fortey 1974 <ref>Fortey, R.A., "The Ordovician Trilobites of Spitsbergen" [http://brage.bibsys.no/npolar/bitstream/URN:NBN:no-bibsys_brage_10697/3/Skrifter160.pdf]</ref> }}
'''''Cloacaspis''''' is an extinct genus of olenid ptychopariid trilobite. It lived during the early part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period,<ref name="strata.ummp" /> a faunal stage which lasted from approximately 478 to 471 million years ago. Richard Fortey has proposed that these particular trilobites lived in anoxic regions of the ocean floor, and cultivated symbiotic, sulfur-metabolizing bacteria.<ref>Fortey, Richard. <u>Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution</u> Random House Inc, 2001 p 70</ref>
==Etymology== The generic name is a compound word from Latin, "cloaca," meaning sewer, and from Greek, "aspis," meaning "shield." Thus, ''Cloacaspis'' translate as "sewer shield." In his book, <u>Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution</u>, Fortey, who first discovered the genus in Ordovician strata in Spitsbergen, explained that the rocks they were found in had a rank, sulfurous odor, reminding him of raw sewage.<ref>Fortey, Richard. <u>Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution</u> Random House Inc, 2001 p 69</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5134740}}
Category:Olenina Category:Ptychopariida genera Category:Early Ordovician trilobites of Europe Category:Fossils of Norway Category:Taxa named by Richard Fortey
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