Beckwithia (arthropod)

Beckwithia is an extinct genus of average to large size (5 centimetres or 2.0 inches to 12 centimetres or 4.7 inches), soft bodied basal chelicerate arthropods that lived during the late Middle and Upper Cambrian on the former paleocontinent Laurentia, in what are now Utah and Wisconsin. It has an inverted egg-shape, with a semi-circular head, 11 abdominal segments and a tail spine. It is a typical member of the group Aglaspidida.

Etymology
Beckwithia was named after Frank Beckwith, editor and publisher of the Millard County Chronicle of Delta, Utah in the early to middle 1900s, who had a passion for trilobites.

Distribution
Beckwithia has been collected from the Middle and Upper Cambrian of Utah (Weeks Formation, House Range, Millard County) and from the Franconian (in North-America called Sunwaptan) of Wisconsin.