Eluruumides

Eluruumides is a genus of extinct marine arthropods described from fossil remains found in Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in the Indian subcontinent. The genus is recognized from several well-preserved exoskeletal fossils that indicate a dorsoventrally flattened body, a pronounced cephalon, and a segmented thorax typical of trilobite-like arthropods.

The name combines Eluru, a locality in Andhra Pradesh where early specimens were recovered, with the suffix -ides, a common ending in paleontological nomenclature.

Eluruumides specimens show an elongated, oval cephalon with a prominent glabella and lateral eyes; the thorax contains multiple articulated segments with outward-directed pleural spines, and the pygidium is relatively small. The exoskeleton bears fine axial rings and shallow pleural ornamentation that aid in distinguishing the genus from related taxa.

Fossils have been recovered from shallow marine sedimentary units of the Krishna–Godavari region and nearby basins, dating to the late Cambrian to early Ordovician. The morphology suggests a benthic, bottom-dwelling mode of life, likely a detritivore or scavenger in low-energy coastal settings.

Eluruumides was first described in a 2012 monograph by paleontologists working in Indian institutions. The genus currently includes at least two species, such as Eluruumides indicus and Eluruumides janatai.

The genus contributes to our understanding of trilobite-like arthropod diversification in the Indian subcontinent and provides evidence for faunal connections between Gondwana-associated regions during the Cambrian–Ordovician interval.