Article: Mid Devonian phyllocarid Crustacea from Bolivia

The Grivetian Dipleura dekayi Zone of the Bolivian Altiplano, and adjacent stratigraphical levels, yield representatives of the phyllocarid genera Echinocaris and Dithyrocaris. The peculiar morphology and well-preserved original features of the exoskeleton allow erection of a new species, Echinocaris spiniger sp. nov. Discovery of a carapace with abdominal somites still connected allows identification of the corresponding tail piece and description of the complete exoskeleton of Dithyrocaris oculeus sp. nov., probably one of the earliest representatives of the genus. Palaeobiological and taphonomic data regarding these species are discussed. Two other forms, represented by only few specimens from other isolated localities, are provisionally left in open nomenclature: Echinocaris sp. and Dithyrocaris sp.