Facivermis
Cambrian lobopodian
Facivermis (meaning "torch worm" ) is a genus of sessile lobopodian from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shales of China
Description
Facivermis was a worm-like creature up to 90 mm long. Its body was divided into three sections. The anterior section had five equally sized pairs of appendages with two setal rows along the margins. The middle section was elongate and five times longer than the anterior or posterior. The posterior section was pear-shaped and had three rows of hooks surrounding the anus.
Classification
Facivermis was considered by its describers to be a polychaete worm. An affinity to the unusual crustacean lineage Pentastomida has also been proposed, but is seen as unlikely. Since its discovery, however, most evidence has supported its being a lobopodian. Liu et al. draw a comparison to the known lobopodian Miraluolishania.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Facivermis” is cambrian lobopodian. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Facivermis, Cambrian and lobopodian, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5428654. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Facivermis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.