Haifengella
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Haifengella corona is the only known species of the extinct arthropod genus Haifengella, described in 2014 from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte in Yunnan, China. It is a helmetiid arthropod closely related to trilobites, notable for its crown-like pygidium (tail shield) that inspired its species name. It belongs to the extinct order Helmetiida within the clade Conciliterga, a group of trilobite-like artiopods.[1] Name origin: The genus name Haifengella comes from Haifeng village near the fossil site; the species epithet corona (Latin for “crown”) refers to the crown-shaped outline of its pygidium. Haifengella has six thoracic tergites and two pairs of tail spines.[1] Each of the thoracic tergites exhibits a pair of long spines projecting from the posterolateral corners.[1]
| Haifengella Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | †Artiopoda |
| Family: | †Helmetiidae |
| Genus: | †Haifengella Zheo et al., 2014 |
| Type species | |
| †Haifengella corona Zhao et al., 2014 | |
In 2025, Losso, Caron Ortega-Hernández in their reanalysis of Helmetia expansa recovered Haifengella as a sister taxon of Rhombicalvaria.[2]