''Urokodia aequalis'' is an extinct genus of
arthropod from the early
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, 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 ...
. The taxon is only known from the
Maotianshan Shales of China based on some 15 specimens. Its segmentation resembles that of a
millipede and it possessed head and tail shields with thorny spikes. It has some similarities to the arthropod ''
Mollisonia'' that is known from both the
Burgess Shale of Canada and the
Kaili biota of China. Recently, the taxon has been considered a member of the order Mollisoniida, alongside ''
Mollisonia,
Thelxiope,'' and ''
Corcorania,'' the group are suggested to be stem-
chelicerates.
References
Urokodia aequalis Arthropod from Maotianshan Shales- URL retrieved September 11, 2010
Prehistoric crustaceans
Cambrian arthropods
Maotianshan shales fossils
{{paleo-arthropod-stub
Cambrian genus extinctions