Oryctocephalus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of trilobites}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Burgess Shale}}

| image = Corynexochina.svg

| image_alt =

| image_caption =

| taxon = Oryctocephalus

| authority = Walcott, 1886

| type_species =

| type_species_authority =

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• Oryctocephalus burgessensis
  Resser 1938
• Oryctocephalus indicus
  Reed 1910
• Oryctocephalus matthewi
  Rasetti 1951
• Oryctocephalus reynoldsi
  Reed 1899
• Oryctocephalus reticulatus
  Lermontova 1940

}}

Oryctocephalus is a genus of trilobites known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. 24 specimens of Oryctocephalus are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.42% of the community.{{cite journal|last1=Caron |first1=Jean-Bernard|last2=Jackson |first2=Donald A.|title=Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale|journal=PALAIOS |volume=21 |issue=5 |pages=451–65|date=October 2006|doi=10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R|jstor=20173022|bibcode=2006Palai..21..451C |s2cid=53646959 }} This small- to medium-sized trilobite's major characteristics are prominent eye ridges, pleural spines, long genal spines, spines on the pygidium, and notably four furrows connecting pairs of pits on its glabella.Coppold, Murray and Wayne Powell (2006). A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale, p.56. The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, Field, British Columbia. {{ISBN|0-9780132-0-4}}. Juvenile specimens have been found with only 5 or 6 thoracic segments and about one eighth of adult size, as well as about 2 mm wide.Coppold, Murray and Wayne Powell (2006). A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale, p.60. The Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, Field, British Columbia. {{ISBN|0-9780132-0-4}}.