Exigua
Extinct genus of arthropods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | †Artiopoda |
| Class: | †Trilobita |
| Order: | †Ptychopariida |
| Family: | †Plethopeltidae |
| Genus: | †Exigua Howell, 1937 |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Brassicicephalus Lochman, 1940 | |
Etymology
Exigua, 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.
