Nephrolenellus

Nephrolenellus is an extinct monophyletic genus of trilobite from the Superfamily Olenelloidea of the Order Redlichiida. It contains two fossil species: N. multinodus and N. geniculatus. All specimens are known from the Great Basin of California, Nevada, and Arizona with one specimen from Canada. Nephrolenellus occurred during the upper Dyeran (516 Ma-513 Ma) of the Lower Cambrian and thus is useful as a biostratigraphic marker for that strata. It has also been used to quantitatively study the effect of compaction on fossil morphology.