Cowiedesmus
Cowiedesmus is an extinct millipede genus originally described from the middle Silurian of Scotland, and is considered as earliest known land animals alongside Pneumodesmus from same formation.
Although a 2017 study suggested that the geological formation it contains actually appears to be from the Early Devonian (Lochkovian) instead, a 2023 study confirmed the age identification of the 2004 study through palynological, palaeobotanical and ziron analyses incorporating newly discovered additional data. Cowiedesmus was about 4 cm (1.6 in) long and characterized by a greatly enlarged pair of legs on the 8th segment which may have been used in clasping females or functioned as gonopods (modified legs used to insert sperm during mating). Coweiedesmus is distinct enough from other living and fossil millipedes to be placed in its own order, Cowiedesmida. The only known species, C. eroticopodus, was described in 2004.
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| Order: | †Cowiedesmida |
| Family: | †Cowiedesmidae |
| Genus: | †Cowiedesmus Wilson & Anderson, 2004 |
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| Cowiedesmus eroticopodus | |
The name Cowiedesmus references the Cowie Formation, a geological formation at Cowie Harbor, near the village of Stonehaven, Scotland, where the fossil was found and desmus, a common root word in millipede nomenclature meaning "bond" or "bridge". The specific epithet eroticopodus means "erotic foot".
References
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