L. superlata was about 5 centimetres (2.0 in) long and had long, whip-like flagellae extending from its great appendages. Its internal organs are occasionally preserved within the substrate in three dimensions.[2][3] Their two pairs of eyes are protected and covered by their exterior head shields, with two eyes being located on each side.[4][5]
Species
Seven
species are tentatively accepted today: L. superlata (the
type species), L. persephone and L. protogonia from the Burgess Shale, L. illecebrosa and L. obesa from the Chengjiang biota, ''L. robisoni from Kaili, and L.? hanceyi from the
Spence Shale. L. superlata and L. persephone may however be examples of
sexual dimorphism.[6][7][8]
Distribution
55 specimens of Leanchoilia are known from the Greater
Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.1% of the community.[9]
^Schoenemann, B., & Clarkson, E. N. K. (2012). The eyes of Leanchoilia. Lethaia, 45(4),
524–531.
^García-Bellido, D. C., & Collins, D. (2007). Reassessment of the Genus Leanchoilia(Arthropoda, Arachnomorpha) from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British
Columbia, Canada. Palaeontology, 50(3), 693–709.