Nephrolenellus is an extinct monophyletic genus of trilobite

Trilobite

Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...

 from the Superfamily Olenelloidea of the Order Redlichiida

Redlichiida

Redlichiida is an order within the major extinct arthropod class Trilobita. The Redlichids are one of the four older classes of trilobites that originated in the Lower Cambrian....

. It contains two fossil species: N. multinodus and N. geniculatus. All specimens are known from the Great Basin

Great Basin

The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...

 of California, Nevada, and Arizona with one specimen from Canada. Nephrolenellus occurred during the upper Dyeran (516 Ma-513 Ma) of the Lower Cambrian

Cambrian

The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...

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.