Elliptocephala is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites.
Elliptocephala is the sistergroup of the clade comprising Wanneria walcottana, the Holmiidae, Fritzolenellus, Mummaspis, Laudonia, the Biceratopsinae and the Bristoliinae.
[2] As with most early trilobites, Elliptocephala has an almost flat exoskeleton, that is only thinly calcified, and has crescent-shaped eye ridges.
Like all other members of the Olenelloidea superfamily, the eye-ridges spring from the back of the frontal lobe (L4) of the central area of the cephalon, that is called glabella.
The head shield (or cephalon) of Ellipticephala carries backwards directed spines at the corner between the halfcircle shaped frontal and side margin and the backmargin that is roughly perpendicular to the midline.