Abstract

Trilobites of the family Phacopidae occur throughout the Lower and Middle Devonian strata of southern Morocco. This region is renowned for its large numbers of articulated trilobites, with preservation matched by few other regions. In this study, select phacopids from a number of lithologies are described and subjected to cladistic analysis in order to assess their relationships. New species or subspecies are named within Phacops and within two proposed new genera, Austerops new genus, and Barrandeops new genus. These taxa include: Phacops araw new species, Austerops kermiti new species, A. salamandar new species, A. speculator punctatus new subspecies, Barrandeops ovatus new species, and B. forteyi new species. Additionally, the new species Boeckops stelcki and Reedops pembertoni are described and considered alongside recently published taxa including Barrandeops granulops (Chatterton et ai., 2006), B.lebesus (Chatterton et ai., 2006), and Austerops smoothops (Chatterton et ai., 2006). The cladistic analysis performed here impacts many of the genera and subgenera currently recognized within Devonian Phacopidae, and the higher level taxonomy of this family.