{{Short description|Extinct genus of arthropods}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Middle Cambrian}} | image = USNM PAL 189201 Tegopelte gigas Image 01.jpg | image_caption = Holotype | image2 = 20240121 Tegopelte gigas diagrammatic reconstruction.png | image2_caption = Diagrammatic reconstruction, showing top-down view (top) and view from below (bottom) | authority = Simonetta and Delle Cave, 1975 | parent_authority = Simonetta and Delle Cave, 1975 | display_parents = 3 | genus = Tegopelte | species = gigas }}
'''''Tegopelte gigas''''' (from the Greek {{lang|grc-Latn|tegos}}, "tile", and {{lang|grc-Latn|pelte}}, "leather-shield", referring to the shape of the dorsal body covering; gigas – from the Greek {{lang|grc-Latn|gigas}}, "giant", due to the huge size of the animal<ref name=Burgess>[https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/tegopelte-gigas/ Tegopelte gigas. A giant trilobite-like arthropod]. The Burgess Shale.</ref>) is a species of large soft-bodied arthropod known from two specimens found in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada.<ref name="Minter2011">{{Cite journal |author=Nicholas J. Minter, M. Gabriela Mángano & Jean-Bernard Caron |year=2011 |title=Skimming the surface with Burgess Shale arthropod locomotion |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume= 279 |issue=1733 |pages= 1613–1620|doi=10.1098/rspb.2011.1986 |pmid=22072605 |pmc=3282348}}</ref><ref name="Whittington1985">{{Cite journal |author=Harry B. Whittington |year=1985 |title=''Tegopelte gigas'', a second soft-bodied trilobite from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=59 |issue=5 |pages=1251–1274 |jstor=1305016}}</ref>
== Description == ''Tegopelte'' was a large arthropod, reaching a body length of {{Convert|28|cm|in}} and width of {{Convert|14|cm|in}}. The body was covered in a large undivided dorsal shield that was unmineralised. On the head a pair of tear-shaped eyes were present on the underside of the shield, along with a pair of antennae. The body had 33 pairs of biramous (two branched) limbs, with the endopod (lower leg-like branch) functioning as the walking limbs, though the ones at the far back of the body are likely too small to have been useful for walking.<ref name="Minter2011" /> The endopods had at least four segments/podomeres. The exopods (upper branch) of the limbs pairs bore elongated filament-like structures, and probably functioned as gills.<ref name="Whittington1985" /> Within the body were gut diverticulae used to digest food.<ref name="Minter2011" />
== Ecology == thumb|245x245px|Trackway production of ''Tegopelte gigas'' ''Tegopelte'' is suggested to have been a seafloor dwelling (benthic) animal that was either a predator or a scavenger. Trackways probably produced by ''Tegopelte'' are known from the Kicking Horse Shale, stratigraphically below its body fossil occurrences. These suggest that it had the ability to skim along the seafloor at a brisk pace and could perform tight turns, though the tracks suggest that they also at times more slowly walked across the seafloor.<ref name="Minter2011" />
== Taxonomy == Although historically classified as a true trilobite,<ref name="Whittington1985" /> is no longer thought to be part of this group. It is currently considered a member of the clade Conciliterga within Trilobitomorpha, a group which contains trilobites and their close relatives.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jiao |first1=De-Guang |last2=Du |first2=Kun-Sheng |last3=Zhang |first3=Xi-Guang |last4=Yang |first4=Jie |last5=Eggink |first5=Daniel |date=May 2022 |title=A new small soft-bodied non-trilobite artiopod from the Cambrian Stage 4 Guanshan Biota |journal=Geological Magazine |language=en |volume=159 |issue=5 |pages=730–734 |doi=10.1017/S0016756821001254 |issn=0016-7568|doi-access=free |bibcode=2022GeoM..159..730J }}</ref>
After Jiao et al. 2021.{{clade|{{clade |1=''Squamacula clypeata'' |2={{clade |label1=Protosutura |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Zhiwenia coronata'' |2=''Australimicola spriggi'' }} |2={{clade |1=''Acanthomeridion serratum'' |2=''Acanthomeridion anacanthus'' }} }} |2={{clade |label2=Trilobitomorpha |label3=Vicissicaudata |1=''Bailongia longicaudata'' |2={{clade |1=''Retifacies abnormalis'' |2={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Kwanyinaspis maotiashanensis'' |label2=Trilobita |2={{clade |1=''Olenoides serratus'' |2=''Eoredlichia intermedia'' }} }} |label2=Conciliterga |2={{clade |1=''Haifengella corona'' |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Kuamaia lata'' |2=''Helmetia expansa'' }} |2={{clade |1='''''Tegopelte gigas''''' |2=''Skioldia aldna'' |3=''Saperion glumaceum'' }} }} }} }} |2={{clade |label1=Xandarellida |label2=Nektaspida |1={{clade |1=''Cindarella eucalla'' |2={{clade |1=''Luohuilinella deletres'' |2=''Luohuilinella rarus'' |3={{clade |1=''Sinoburius lunaris'' |2={{clade |1=''Xandarella spectaculum'' |2=''Phytophilaspis pergamena'' }} }} }} }} |2={{clade |1=''Buenaspis forteyi'' |2={{clade |1=''Tariccoia arrusensis'' |2=''Soomaspis splendida'' |3=''Liwia convexa'' }} |3={{clade |1=''Naraoia spinosa'' |2={{clade |1=''Naraoia compacta'' |2=''Misszhouia longicaudata'' }} }} }} }} }} }} |3={{clade |1=''Sidneyia inexpectans'' |2={{clade |1=''Emeraldella brocki'' |label2=Cheloniellida |2={{clade |1=''Cheloniellon calmani'' |2={{clade |1=''Triopus draboviensis'' |2=''Duslia insignis'' }} }} |3={{clade |1=''Kodymirus vagans'' |2={{clade |1=''Eozetetes gemmelli'' |label2=Aglaspidida |2={{clade |1=''Beckwithia typa'' |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Chlupacaris dubia'' |2={{clade |1=''Quasimodaspis brentsae'' |2={{clade |1=''Tremaglaspis unite'' |2={{clade |1=''Tremaglaspis vanroyi'' |2=''Brachyaglaspis singularis'' }} }} }} |3={{clade |1=''Cyclopites vulgaris'' |2=''Australaglaspis stonyensis'' |3={{clade |1=''Uarthrus instabilis'' |2=''Flobertia kochi'' |3={{clade |1=''Aglaspella granulifera'' |2={{clade |1=''Gogglops ensifer'' |2={{clade |1=''Glypharthrus simplex'' |2=''Aglaspis spinifer'' }} }} |3={{clade |1=''Chraspedops modesta'' |2={{clade |1=''Glypharthrus thomasi'' |2={{clade |1=''Glypharthrus trispinicaudatus'' |2=''Glypharthrus magnoculus'' }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}|style=font-size:85%; line-height:85%|label1=Artiopoda }}
== See also ==
* Paleobiota of the Burgess Shale
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Cite web|date=2011|title=''Tegopelte gigas''|work=Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery|publisher=Virtual Museum of Canada|url=http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/fossil-gallery/view-species.php?id=121|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112025257/http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/fossil-gallery/view-species.php?id=121|archive-date=2020-11-12|url-status=dead|access-date=2023-01-21}}
{{Artiopoda}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q7694756}}
Category:Burgess Shale fossils Category:Cambrian arthropods Category:Artiopoda Category:Cambrian genus extinctions Category:Fossil taxa described in 1975 Category:Monotypic artiopod genera
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