Viaphacops Maximova, 1972

Genus Viaphacops Maximova, 1972

TYPE SPECIES: Phacops pipa Hall and Clarke, 1888 ; early Middle Devonian of North America (New York State, Michigan and Southern Ontario).

GENERIC DIAGNOSIS (Maximova, 1972): Preoccipital lobe entirely reduced; preoccipital furrow merged with occipital furrow to form a deep broad furrow on site of preoccipital lobe. Occipital ring usually narrow. Vincular furrow deep, with prominent inner border. Eyes of moderate size, less frequently large. Pygidium usually wide, weakly segmented. Surface of glabella with fairly large nodes.

SYSTEMATIC NOTE: Those phacopids that were originally placed in the genus Phacops from Central Kazakhstan and the Far Eastern part of the former Soviet Union were reexamined by Maximova (1972), who erected a new genus, Paciphacops , with two subgenera, P. ( Paciphacops ) and P. ( Viaphacops ), each containing several species. Elsewhere Viaphacops has been elevated to generic rank (e.g., Ramsköld and Werdelin, 1991; Linsley, 1994) and that practice is also followed here.