Tetragramma donaldtrumpi | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia
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Phylum: | Echinodermata
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Class: | Echinoidea
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Order: | Phymosomatoida
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Family: | Diplopodiidae
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Genus: | Tetragramma
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Species: | T. donaldtrumpi
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Binomial name | |
Tetragramma donaldtrumpi Thompson, 2016
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Tetragramma donaldtrumpi is a species of fossil sea urchins discovered and identified by William R. Thompson Jr. in 2016.[1] The specimen locality is from the Lower Cretaceous, Trinity Group, of the Glen Rose Formation near Fischer, Texas, in the United States.[1][2]
Based from the fossils discovered of Tetragramma donaldtrumpi, the species is known to have been about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in size and round in shape, with the appearance of a Life Savers candy.[3] The genus Tetragramma is known from the Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) to the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian).[4]
Thompson named the species to honor then Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.[5] A paleontology lab at the University of Texas at Austin holds a fossil of the species, along with 45 other species.[3]