Liwia is a genus of liwiidnektaspid from the Early Cambrian. It includes the species Liwia plana and Liwia convexa, both known from borehole samples several kilometers in depth from the Zawiszyn Formation in Poland, which has also yielded Peytoia infercambriensis.
The holotype of fossil of Liwia was found from the Zawiszyn Formation of Poland, and described in 1975.[1]
The original generic name Livia is derived from the name of the Liwiec River, near to where the fossils were found,[1] although as this generic name was already preoccupied, it was changed in 1988 to Liwia.[2]
The specific name for L. convexa derives directly from the Latin word convexa, to mean "rounded", relating to the curved appearance of the pygidium; whilst the specific name for L. plana derives directly from the Latin word plana, to mean "flat", relating the overall flatness of this species.[1]
Description
Top down reconstruction of Liwia.
Liwia is a member of the order nektaspida,[3] and the namesake of the Liwiidae family, growing to around 20–30mm (0.8–1.2in) in length, with the longer, incomplete species being L. convexa; and the shorter, more complete species being L. plana.[1]
Liwia had an oval shaped cephalon, with four thoracic segments, and a distinctive spiked pygidium, which had six pairs of rear-facing spines, with the three anterior spines being shorter, whilst the three posterior spines are longer.[1]
↑Dzik, Jerzy; Lendzion, Kazimiera (January 1988). "The oldest arthropods of the East European Platform". Lethaia. 21 (1): 29–38. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1988.tb01749.x.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
