Contribution of August Heinrich Ernst Beyrich to the knowledge of Ordovician trilobites in the Czech Republic

The Barrandian area of the Tepla-Barrandian Unit is one of the richest trilobite-yielding areas in the world. In the middle of the nineteenth century, four main workers studied trilobites in this region, Joachim Barrande, Heinrich Ernst Beyrich, Ignatz Hawle, and August Carl Joseph Corda. Heinrich Ernst Beyrich, an excellent German palaeontologist studied and figured five species of Ordovician trilobites from the Barrandian area in two important contributions. One trilobite species, Cheirurus claviger (= Eccoptochile clavigera) was described in the year 1845; the other four trilobites, Odontopleura inermis (= Selenopeltis inermis), Calymene parvula (= Calymenella parvula), Calymene pulchra (= Prionocheilus mendax), and Trinucleus ornatus (= Deanaspis goldfussii goldfussii) were described in the year 1846. Well-preserved materials used in both Beyrich's contributions were collected from Sandbian quartzose sandstone of the Letna Formation and from Sandbian to Katian greywacke of the Zahorany Formation. Original specimens of these Late Ordovician taxa are newly revised and actual systematic position of all species is discussed in detail. The history of Beyrich's original specimens in the twentieth century is briefly summarized.

Automated summary

The Barrandian area of the Tepla-Barrandian Unit is an important site for studying trilobites. Heinrich Ernst Beyrich, a German paleontologist, made significant contributions by studying and describing five species of Ordovician trilobites from this region in the mid-19th century.