Palaeos: Palaeozoic		Furongian Epoch
Cambrian Period		Paiban Age

The Paiban

The Paiban Age of the Furongian Epoch: 501 to 496 million years ago

Also known as the Maentwrogian, Dresbachian and the Ffestiniogian, the Paiban is a stage of the Furongian, underlain by the Guzhangian and overlain by an unnamed Stage IX and the Dolgellian, and dated at 501 to about 496 million years ago.

Phylum : Mollusca Class: Tergomya Order: Hypseloconoidea Family: Hypseloconidae Hypseloconus elongatus Berkey Size: about 2.5 to 4 cm tall Horizon: Dresbachian Locality: Wisconsin USA Comments: the Hypseloconoidea, represented by species like Hypseloconus elongatus and Knightoconus antarcticusse, with cap-shaped shells (which in the case of Knightoconus also possessed septa), are often thought to be ancestral to the Cephalopoda, although the evidence for this is still debated Drawing from Moore, Lalicker and Fischer, Invertebrate Fossils, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc, 1952, p.291	Phylum : Arthropoda Class: ???Trilobita Order: Agnostida Suborder: Agnostina Family: Agnostidae Agnostus pisiformis Size: about 5 mm long Horizon: Early Paiban Age - Agnostus pisiformis zone Locality: Sweden Comments: Agnostid trilobites had only two thoracic segments. These tiny trilobites were planktonic drifters. Following the discovery of a Furongian form from the Orsten Lagerstätten with a limb preserved, it is believed now that these animals were not true trilobites at all, but more closely related to Crustacea Drawing © Inga B. Agnér
Phylum : Arthropoda Class: Trilobita Order: Ptychopariida Suborder: Ptychopariina Superfamily: Crepicephalacea Family: Tricrepicephalidae Tricrepicephalus cedarensis Resser Size: about 4.5 cm wide Horizon: Nolichucky Shale (Early Paiban Age - Agnostus pisiformis (European) zone / Cedaria and Crepicephalus (North American) Zones Locality: Alabama, USA Comments: Drawing from Moore, Lalicker and Fischer, Invertebrate Fossils, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc, 1952, p.503	Phylum : Arthropoda Class: Trilobita Order: Ptychopariida Suborder: Ptychopariina Superfamily: Olenacea Family: Olenidae Subfamily: Oleninae Olenus gibbosus Wahlenberg Size: about 1.5 to 2 cm long Horizon: Olenus zone (Late Paiban Age) Locality: Sweden Comments: Drawing from Moore, Lalicker and Fischer, Invertebrate Fossils, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc, 1952, p.503	Phylum : Arthropoda Class: Trilobita Order: Ptychopariida Suborder: Ptychopariina Superfamily: Komaspidacea Family: Elviniidae Elvinia roemeri (Shumard) Size: about 1.5 to 2 cm long Horizon: Wilberns Formation , Elvinia (North American) Zone Olenus/Agnostus obesus zone (Late Paiban Age) Locality: Texas Comments: cranidium and pygdium "tail" Drawing from Moore, Lalicker and Fischer, Invertebrate Fossils, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc, 1952, p.500