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Anomalocarididae
Anomalocarididae (occasionally mis-spelt Anomalocaridae) is an extinct family of Cambrian radiodonts, a group of stem-group arthropods. Around 1990s and early 2010s, Anomalocarididae included all radiodont species, hence the previous equivalent of the common name "anomalocaridid" to the whole Radiodonta. This is no longer the case after the revision done by Vinther et al. 2014, as Anomalocarididae restricted to only ''Anomalocaris'' and, if any, a few of closely related genera since then. Wu et al. 2021 accepted only ''Anomalocaris'' (excluding '' "A." saron'', '' "A." kunmingensis'' and '' "A." briggsi'') and '' Lenisicaris'' as the member of Anomalocarididae, while ''Paranomalocaris'' is questionably included by some studies as well. Since then, other species labeled under the ''Anomalocaris'' genus, like ''''A.'' saron'' have been reassigned to their own genus (like in the case of ''''A.'' saron'' being redescribed as ''Innovatiocaris''). Anomalocarididae distinguished from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radiodont
Radiodonta is an extinct order of stem-group arthropods that was successful worldwide during the Cambrian period. Radiodonts are distinguished by their distinctive frontal appendages, which are morphologically diverse and were used for a variety of functions. Radiodonts were among the earliest large predators, but they also included sediment sifters and filter feeders. Some of the most famous species of radiodonts are the Cambrian taxa ''Anomalocaris canadensis'', '' Hurdia victoria'', ''Peytoia nathorsti'', '' Titanokorys gainesi, Cambroraster falcatus'' and '' Amplectobelua symbrachiata''. The later surviving members include the subfamily Aegirocassisinae from the Early Ordovician of Morocco and the Early Devonian member '' Schinderhannes bartelsi'' from Germany. Etymology The name Radiodonta (Latin for ''radius'' "spoke of a wheel" and Greek for ''odoús'' "tooth") refers to the radial arrangement of tooth plates (oral cone) surrounding the mouth, although this feature is su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radiodonta
Radiodonta is an extinct Order (biology), order of stem-group arthropods that was successful worldwide during the Cambrian period. Radiodonts are distinguished by their distinctive frontal appendages, which are morphologically diverse and were used for a variety of functions. Radiodonts were among the earliest large predators, but they also included sediment sifters and filter feeders. Some of the most famous species of radiodonts are the Cambrian taxa ''Anomalocaris, Anomalocaris canadensis'', ''Hurdia, Hurdia victoria'', ''Peytoia nathorsti'', ''Titanokorys gainesii, Titanokorys gainesi, Cambroraster, Cambroraster falcatus'' and ''Amplectobelua, Amplectobelua symbrachiata''. The later surviving members include the subfamily Aegirocassisinae from the Early Ordovician of Morocco and the Early Devonian member ''Schinderhannes bartelsi'' from Germany. Etymology The name Radiodonta (Latin for ''radius'' "spoke of a wheel" and Greek for ''odoús'' "tooth") refers to the radial arrang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anomalocaris
''Anomalocaris'' (from Ancient Greek , meaning "unlike", and , meaning "shrimp", with the intended meaning "unlike other shrimp") is an extinct genus of radiodont, an order of early-diverging stem-group marine arthropods. It is best known from the type species ''A. canadensis,'' found in the Stephen Formation (particularly the Burgess Shale) of British Columbia, Canada. The other named species ''A. daleyae'' is known from the somewhat older Emu Bay Shale of Australia. Other unnamed ''Anomalocaris'' species are known from China and the United States. Like other radiodonts, ''Anomalocaris'' had swimming flaps running along its body, large compound eyes, and a single pair of segmented, frontal appendages, which in ''Anomalocaris'' were used to grasp prey. Estimated to reach long excluding the frontal appendages and tail fan, ''Anomalocaris'' is one of the largest animals of the Cambrian, and thought to be one of the earliest examples of an apex predator, though others have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Echidnacaris
''Echidnacaris briggsi'' is an extinct species of radiodont known from the Cambrian Stage 4 aged Emu Bay Shale of Australia. Formerly referred to as ''"Anomalocaris" briggsi'', it was placed in the new monotypic genus ''Echidnacaris'' in 2023. It is only distantly related to true ''Anomalocaris'', and is instead placed in the family Tamisiocarididae. ''Echidnacaris'' is primarily known from its frontal appendages which had 13 podomeres. The largest appendages measured up to long, which would have belonged to an individual measuring between long. The first few segments of the appendages were substantially taller than they were wide, with podomeres 2-12 bearing long, slender posteriorly curving endites/ventral spines which bore numerous small auxiliary spines. Like other tamisiocaridids, it is suggested to have been a suspension feeder, using its frontal appendages to capture small prey. Isolated eyes attributed to the species suggest that they were not stalked, but instead were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambrian Series 2 First Appearances
The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 486.85 Ma. Most of the continents lay in the southern hemisphere surrounded by the vast Panthalassa Ocean. The assembly of Gondwana during the Ediacaran and early Cambrian led to the development of new convergent plate boundaries and continental-margin arc magmatism along its margins that helped drive up global temperatures. Laurentia lay across the equator, separated from Gondwana by the opening Iapetus Ocean. The Cambrian marked a profound change in life on Earth; prior to the Period, the majority of living organisms were small, unicellular and poorly preserved. Complex, multicellular organisms gradually became more common during the Ediacaran, but it was not until the Cambrian that fossil diversity seems to rapidly incre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetic Analysis
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data and observed heritable traits of DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, and morphology. The results are a phylogenetic tree—a diagram depicting the hypothetical relationships among the organisms, reflecting their inferred evolutionary history. The tips of a phylogenetic tree represent the observed entities, which can be living taxa or fossils. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the taxa represented on the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about directionality of character state transformation, and does not show the origin or "root" of the taxa in question. In addition to their use for inferring phylogenetic patterns a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamisiocarididae
Tamisiocarididae is a family of Radiodonta, radiodonts, extinct marine animals related to arthropods, that bore finely-spined appendages that were presumably used in filter-feeding. When first discovered, the clade was named Cetiocaridae after a speculative evolution artwork, ''Bearded Ceticaris'' by John Meszaros, that depicted a hypothetical filter-feeding radiodont at a time before any were known to exist. However, the family name was not valid according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, as no real genus named "Cetiocaris" exists, and in 2019 it was formally replaced by the name Tamisiocarididae, after the only valid genus of the clade at the time. The family is only known from Cambrian Series 2, Series 2 of the Cambrian, unlike other radiodont families, which persisted longer into the Cambrian. All known species would have lived in tropical or subtropical waters, suggesting a preference for warmer waters. Description Like most radiodonts, cetiocarids have s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurdiidae
Hurdiidae (synonymous with the previously named Peytoiidae) is an extinct cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan Family (biology), family of radiodonts, a group of Crown group#Stem groups, stem-group marine arthropods, which lived during the Paleozoic Era. It is the most long-lived radiodont clade, lasting from the Cambrian period to the Devonian period. Description File:20191213 Radiodonta frontal appendage Hurdiidae.png, Anatomy of the frontal appendage of a hurdiid File:20191229 Radiodonta frontal appendage Hurdiidae.png, Frontal appendages of various species of hurdiid File:20200803 Radiodonta Hurdiidae H-element.png, Dorsal carapaces of various species of hurdiid Hurdiidae is characterized by Radiodonta#Frontal appendage, frontal appendages with distal region composed of 5 subequal blade-like endites, alongside the enlarged head carapaces and tetraradial mouthpart (Radiodonta#Oral cone, oral cone). The Radiodonta#Frontal appendage, frontal appendages of hurdiids have a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyrarapax
'' Lyrarapax'' is a radiodont genus of the family Amplectobeluidae that lived in the early Cambrian period 518 million years ago. Its fossils were found in the Maotianshan Shales of China. The first species, ''Lyrarapax unguispinus'' was described in 2014, with a second species, ''Lyrarapax trilobus'' being described in 2016, differing principally in the morphology of its frontal appendages. Description ''L. unguispinus'' is roughly long. Its frontal appendages are short with a large first endite bearing several spines and alternating endites thereafter. The neck is prominent with four segments. The first flap pair is hypertrophied and paddle-shaped, with the following pairs decreasing sharply in size and a tail fan composed of three blade-like flap pairs. Remarkably, the nervous system of ''L. unguispinus'' is preserved in detail, showing that radiodont frontal appendages are protocerebral like the antennae of velvet worms, showing the two structures derive from the same sour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amplectobelua
''Amplectobelua'' (meaning "embracing beast") is an extinct genus of late Early Cambrian amplectobeluid radiodont, a group of stem arthropods that mostly lived as free-swimming predators during the first half of the Paleozoic Era. Anatomy ''Amplectobelua'' was a giant radiodont, with the largest specimen of ''A. symbrachiata'' reaching up to in body length excluding the frontal appendages and tail. ''A. stephenensis'' is much smaller, estimated up to long. The body structures other than frontal appendages are only known from the type species ''Amplectobelua symbrachiata''. Like other radiodonts, ''Amplectobelua'' had a pair of jointed frontal appendages, a head covered by dorsal and lateral sclerites (the latter had been misinterpreted as huge eyes), a limbless body with dorsal gills (setal blades), and a series of flaps on both sides that extended along the length of its body. ''Amplectobelua'' had a specialized frontal appendage, in which it has a distinct 3-segmented s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amplectobeluidae
''Amplectobeluidae'' is a clade of Cambrian radiodonts. It currently includes five definitive genera, ''Amplectobelua'', '' Lyrarapax'', '' Ramskoeldia'', '' Guanshancaris'' and a currently unnamed genus from the lower Cambrian aged Sirius Passet site in Greenland. There is also a potential fifth genus, ''Houcaris'', but that genus has become problematic in terms of its taxonomic placement. Definition In 2014, ''Amplectobeluidae'' was defined as the most inclusive clade including '' Amplectobelua symbrachiata'' but not ''Anomalocaris canadensis'', '' Tamisiocaris borealis'', or '' Hurdia victoria''. Description Amplectobeluids could be recognized by frontal appendages with well-developed first distal endite, which forming a pincer-like structure that presumably better suited for a grasping function. Complete body fossils of amplectobeluids are only known by ''Amplectobelua'' and '' Lyrarapax'', both showing combination of characters resembling ''Anomalocaris'' (i.e. streaml ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Innovatiocaris
''Innovatiocaris'' (meaning "innovation crab") is an extinct genus of radiodont from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte of Yunnan Province, China. The genus may contain two named species, ''I. maotianshanensis'', known from a nearly complete young individual measuring up to and isolated frontal appendages, and ''I.''? ''multispiniformis'', known from a complete frontal appendage. Discovery and naming ''Innovatiocaris maotianshanensis'' 20210624 Innovatiocaris maotianshanensis.png, Life restoration 20220915 Innovatiocaris size.png, Size diagram 20210531 Radiodonta frontal appendage Innovatiocaris maotianshanensis.png, ''I. maotianshanensis'' frontal appendage The holotype specimen of ''Innovatiocaris maotianshanensis'', ELRC 20001 was long considered in scientific literature as "''Anomalocaris'' sp". or ''Anomalocaris saron'' (=''Houcaris saron''). However, in 2022, Zeng et al. described it as a new genus and species of radiodont. The holotype consists of the nearly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
