Arctinurus

{{short description|Species of trilobite (fossil)}}

{{more footnotes|date=May 2019}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Wenlock|Ludlow}}

| image = Arctinurus boltoni.jpg

| image_caption = Fossil of Arctinurus boltoni in the Field Museum of Natural History.

| parent_authority = Castelnau, 1843

| taxon = Arctinurus boltoni

| authority = (Bigsby, 1825)

}}

Arctinurus boltoni is a large (up to 30 cm) lichid trilobite of the mid-Silurian. This trilobite reached about eight inches in length, though the normal adult carapace was about four inches. It lived in moderately deep-water in semi-tropical regions. Arctinurus fossils have been found in Europe and North America.

Arctinurus was first reported during the construction of the Erie Canal through soft Silurian shales and mudstones in upstate New York.{{cite journal |last=Bigsby |first=John Jeremiah |author-link=John Jeremiah Bigsby |title=Description of a New Species of Trilobite |journal=Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |publisher=Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |location=Philadelphia |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=365–368 |date=1825 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/79352#page/379/mode/1up |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}} Before the late 1990s, complete Arctinurus fossils were very rare. The vast majority of complete specimens were commercially mined near Middleport New York, USA, in a shallow quarry in the Rochester Formation, and the trilobite is now relatively common in museum, university and private collections. Arctinurus tended to have epibionts attached to the carapace.