Balizoma

{{Short description|Genus of trilobites}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Silurian}}

| image = Neotype fossil (BU55) of the encrinurine trilobite Balizoma variolaris.jpg

| image_caption = Balizoma variolaris fossil; neotype of the type species

| taxon = Balizoma

| authority = Holloway, 1980

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• †B. variolaris

}}

Balizoma is a genus of trilobites from the family Encrinuridae established by David J. Holloway in 1980.{{cite journal |last1=Holloway |first1=David J. |title=Middle Silurian trilobites from Arkansas and Oklahoma, U.S.A. |journal=Palaeontographica Abteilung A |date=1980 |volume=170 |pages=1–85|url=https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/pala/detail/A170/71018/Middle_Silurian_trilobites_from_Arkansas_and_Oklahoma_USA_Part_1}} It has only been found in rocks of Silurian age. Its type species, B. variolaris (Brongniart, 1822), is currently the only named species of the genus, and is found in England. The neotype of B. variolaris was collected from the Much Wenlock Limestone Formation at Dudley, West Midlands.{{cite journal|last1=Tripp| first1=R. P.|last2=Temple|first2=J.T.|last3=Gass|first3=K.C.|title=The Silurian trilobite Encrinurus variolaris and allied species, with notes on Frammia|journal =Palaeontology|volume=20|issue=4|pages=847–867|year=1977|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301584640}} That specimen was first illustrated in Sir Roderick Impey Murchison's classic book, The Silurian System.{{cite book|last1=Murchison |first1=Roderick Impey|title=The Silurian System|date=1839|publisher=John Murray|location=London|pages=726|url=https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/siluriansystemfimurc}} B. variolaris was the original "strawberry-headed" trilobite of Dudley, so-named because of its nodular glabellar tubercles, and well known to early trilobite collectors.{{cite journal|last1=Tripp| first1=R. P.|last2=Temple|first2=J.T.|last3=Gass|first3=K.C.|title=Calymene variolaris Brongniart, 1822 (Trilobita): Proposed use of the plenary powers to designate a neotype in harmony with current use. Z.N.(S.) 2189|journal =Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature|volume=33|issue=3&4|pages=250–252|year=1977|url=https://www.palass.org/sites/default/files/media/publications/palaeontology/volume_20/vol20_part4_pp847-867.pdf}} Additional species were originally assigned to Balizoma, but were subsequently placed in other encrinurine genera.{{cite journal |last1=Ramskold |first1=Lars |title=Silurian encrinurid trilobites from Gotland and Dalarna, Sweden |journal=Palaeontology |date=1986 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=527–575|url=https://www.palass.org/sites/default/files/media/publications/palaeontology/volume_29/vol29_part3_pp527-575.pdf}}{{cite journal |last1=Edgecombe |first1=Gregory D. |last2=Chatterton |first2=Brian D. E. |title=Silurian (Wenlock-Ludlow) encrinurine trilobites from the Mackenzie Mountains, Canada, and related species |journal=Palaeontographica Abteilung A |date=1993 |volume=229 |pages=75–112|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271695841}}