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81 / Paleozoic
Wiwaxia
Wiwaxia corrugata
Rows of scales and long spines armored this small seafloor grazer.
Structured expansion · editorial review pending
- Time range
- About 508 million years ago
- Final stage
- Middle Cambrian
- Geographic range
- Laurentian shallows · Present-day Canada
01 / ANSWER FIRST
What was Wiwaxia?
This archive records Wiwaxia under the scientific name Wiwaxia corrugata, with an age of About 508 million years ago and a range of Laurentian shallows · Present-day Canada. Rows of scales and long spines armored this small seafloor grazer.
Wiwaxia scraped microbial food with a toothed feeding apparatus and carried overlapping carbonaceous sclerites. Its relationship to mollusks remains debated.
02 / QUICK FACTS
Wiwaxia at a glance
- Scientific name
- Wiwaxia corrugata
- Age
- About 508 million years ago
- Last recorded stage
- Middle Cambrian
- Known range
- Laurentian shallows · Present-day Canada
- Broad group
- invertebrate
- Archive era
- Paleozoic
- Habitat signals
- Ocean
- Documented regions
- North America
03 / ANATOMY
How was Wiwaxia built?
Overall body plan
Rows of scales and long spines armored this small seafloor grazer.
Body symmetry and segmentation
The available record is interpreted through preserved proportions, attachment surfaces, wear and comparison with related organisms. For Wiwaxia, those observations must be separated from features added only for visual reconstruction.
Feeding and locomotor structures
Wiwaxia scraped microbial food with a toothed feeding apparatus and carried overlapping carbonaceous sclerites. Its relationship to mollusks remains debated.
Growth and individual variation
A single specimen does not define the whole species. Size, maturity, preservation and possible sex differences are considered before anatomical traits are treated as typical of Wiwaxia.
04 / DIET & BEHAVIOUR
How did Wiwaxia live?
Wiwaxia scraped microbial food with a toothed feeding apparatus and carried overlapping carbonaceous sclerites. Its relationship to mollusks remains debated. This ecological reconstruction is strongest where anatomy, associated organisms and the depositional setting point in the same direction.
05 / DIET & BEHAVIOUR
What shaped its ecological limits?
Its populations depended on substrate, water chemistry, food supply and ecological competition. Changes in any one factor did not necessarily cause immediate extinction, but interacting pressures could reduce range, recruitment and resilience.
06 / RANGE & HABITAT
Where and when did Wiwaxia live?
This archive currently lists About 508 million years ago; Laurentian shallows · Present-day Canada. Fossil or historical occurrence data describe where evidence has been found, not every place the taxon once occupied. Species-level age and range limits still require source-specific review.
Documented geographic range
Laurentian shallows · Present-day Canada. This boundary can change when specimens are reidentified or new localities are published.
Time window
About 508 million years ago, with the final recorded stage listed as Middle Cambrian. Rock units and dating uncertainty mean the true biological range may extend beyond the known record.
Environmental setting
The archive uses the broad habitat labels Ocean. These labels help explore related records; a habitat reconstruction requires evidence from individual localities.
07 / FOSSIL EVIDENCE
What evidence supports reconstructions of Wiwaxia?
Primary record
Complete Burgess Shale fossils preserve scales, spines, gut and feeding structures.
Comparative anatomy
Preserved structures are compared with close and functionally similar organisms. The method can constrain posture and function, but analogy alone cannot prove colour, behaviour or soft tissue.
Age and locality
Stratigraphy and occurrence records place Wiwaxia within About 508 million years ago and Laurentian shallows · Present-day Canada. Reworked fossils and uncertain provenance are treated cautiously.
Open entity records
Links below connect the archive to available taxonomic and occurrence records. A matching name does not verify every ecological claim, and related-taxon links provide comparison rather than an exact species match.
08 / DISAPPEARANCE & DEBATE
Why did Wiwaxia disappear?
Later Cambrian ecological turnover ended the distinctive lineage.
The last fossil or observation marks the youngest evidence currently known, not necessarily the death of the final individual. Explanations are strongest when timing, environmental change and population biology agree; otherwise the profile preserves uncertainty instead of assigning a single dramatic cause.
09 / FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Wiwaxia FAQ
What was Wiwaxia?
This archive records Wiwaxia under the scientific name Wiwaxia corrugata, with an age of About 508 million years ago. Rows of scales and long spines armored this small seafloor grazer.
When did Wiwaxia live?
The current archive range is About 508 million years ago; its youngest recorded stage is Middle Cambrian.
Where was Wiwaxia found?
The archive currently lists Laurentian shallows · Present-day Canada. Species-level locality assignments and the full geographic range still require source-specific review.
How do scientists know about Wiwaxia?
Complete Burgess Shale fossils preserve scales, spines, gut and feeding structures.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Completed an AI-assisted bilingual audit of the archive record, corrected identified issues and clarified evidence limits; independent editorial review is pending.
- Expanded into a structured bilingual profile with anatomy, ecology, range, evidence, debate and FAQs; independent editorial review is pending.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS