Dinocaridida
Sign in to saveAlso known as Dinocarida, Dinocaridid, Dinocarid, AOPK group
Dinocaridida is a proposed fossil taxon of basal arthropods, which flourished during the Cambrian period and survived up to Early Devonian. Characterized by a pair of frontal appendages and series of body flaps, the name of Dinocaridids (Greek for deinos "terrible" and Latin for caris "crab") refers to the suggested role of some of these members as the largest marine predators of their time. Dinocaridids are occasionally referred to as the 'AOPK group' by some literatures, as the group composed of Radiodonta (Anomalocaris and relatives), Opabiniidae (Opabinia and relatives), and the "gilled lo
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Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Anatomy
- Classification
- Distribution
- Notes
- References
Dinocaridida is a proposed fossil taxon of basal arthropods, which flourished during the Cambrian period and survived up to Early Devonian. Characterized by a pair of frontal appendages and series of body flaps, the name of Dinocaridids (Greek for deinos "terrible" and Latin for caris "crab") refers to the suggested role of some of these members as the largest marine predators of their time. Dinocaridids are occasionally referred to as the 'AOPK group' by some literatures, as the group composed of Radiodonta (Anomalocaris and relatives), Opabiniidae (Opabinia and relatives), and the "gilled lobopodians" Pambdelurion and Kerygmachelidae. It is most likely paraphyletic, with Kerygmachelidae and Pambdelurion more basal than the clade composed of Opabiniidae, Radiodonta and other arthropods.
==Anatomy==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Dinocaridida” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.