''Clypecaris'' is genus of bivalved

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ag ...

arthropod known from the

Chengjiang biota The Maotianshan Shales are a series of Early Cambrian deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation, famous for their '' Konservat Lagerstätten'', deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms or traces. The Maotianshan Shales ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

, China. The genus was initially described for the type species ''C. pteroidea'' by Hou, 1999. A second species ''C. serrata'' was described by Yang et al. in 2016. The species are primarily distinguished by the presence of a serrated edge on the front of the carapace of ''C. serrata. C. serrata'' is noted for the modification of an anterior pair of limbs into spined grasping appendages, indicating a predatory lifestyle. It is unknown whether a similar structure was present in ''C. pteroidea.'' ''Clypecaris'' is considered to likely be a member or a close relative of

Hymenocarina Hymenocarina is an order of extinct arthropods known from the Cambrian. They possess bivalved carapaces, typically with exposed posteriors. Members of the group are morphologically diverse and had a variety of ecologies, including as filter feed ...

, and is closely related to ''

Perspicaris ''Perspicaris'' (from the Latin ''perspicax'', meaning “sharp-sighted,” and ''caris'', “crab/shrimp”) an extinct genus of bivalved arthropod from the Cambrian period. Fossils have been found in North America, primarily the Burgess Shale ...

''. As well as to ''

Ercaicunia ''Ercaicunia'' is genus of bivalved Cambrian arthropod from the Chengjiang biota of Yunnan, China. It contains a single species, ''E. multinodosa'' that was described by Luo et al. in 1999. The total length of the body ranges from . The bivalved ...

''.

References

Cambrian animals Maotianshan shales fossils Prehistoric arthropod genera Cambrian genus extinctions {{Paleo-arthropod-stub Hymenocarina

See also

References