Lepidocoleus Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Annelida |
Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
Subclass: | Errantia |
Order: | Phyllodocida |
Family: | †Lepidocoleidae |
Genus: | †Lepidocoleus Faber, 1886 |
Species | |
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Lepidocoleus is a genus of extinct armored annelid worm in the class Machaeridia. Two notable species are L. caliburnus or the "Excalibur worm", and L. shurikenus, or the "shuriken worm".[1] The creature had a "suit" of armor running down its body in the form of overlapping calcite crystals.[1] This worm probably lived in shallow water reefs feeding on organic waste.[2] It lived from the Hirnantian of the upper Ordovician to the Famennian of the Devonian.[3]