Exigua (synonym: Brassicicephalus) is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It lived from 501 to 497 million years ago during the Dresbachian faunal stage of the late Cambrian Period.[3] Exigua is only known from the central part of the headshield or cranidium, so free cheeks (or librigenae), thorax and pygidium are unknown.
Exigua Temporal range:
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Superfamily: | Raymondinacea
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Subfamily: | Raymondininae
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Genus: | Exigua Howell, 1937
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Brassicicephalus |
Etymology
editExigua, is Latin meaning small, meager or sparse, referring to the small size of the only parts known of these trilobites, namely the cranidia. The synonym Brassicicephalus is a combination of Brassica (Latin, "cabbage") and κεφαλή, kephalē (Greek: "head") for the strongly convex glabella and fixed cheeks separated by a deep furrow.
References
edit- ^ Robison, R.A. (1988). Peel, J.S. (ed.). Trilobites of the Holm Dal Formation (late Middle Cambrian), central North Greenland. Mededelser om Grønland - Geoscience. Vol. 20. pp. 94–96. ISBN 8763511908.
- ^ Lochman, C.; Duncan, D. (1944). "Early Upper Cambrian Faunas of Central Montana". Geological Society of America Special Papers. 54: 13. doi:10.1130/spe54-p1. ISBN 0813720540.
- ^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Trilobita entry)". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Archived from the original on 2006-09-05. Retrieved 2008-01-12.