Odaraia

Odaraia is an extinct genus of bivalved hymenocarine arthropod with a single known species Odaraia alata, found in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in British Columbia, Canada.

== History of research and taxonomy == The genus and species were first described by Charles Walcott in 1912. It was placed into its own family, Odaraiidae by Simonetta and Delle Cave in 1975, which has been used to include other genera of bivalved Cambrian arthropods. The species was redescribed by Derek Briggs 1981, and again redescribed in 2024 by Izquierdo-López and Caron. While originally Odaraia and other odaraiids have been interpreted as basal euarthropods not closely related to any living arthropod group, the confirmation of the presence of mandibles in Odaraia places them firmly within the modern arthropod group Mandibulata. Odaraiidae is currently placed within Hymenocarina, which includes many other mandible bearing (when preserved) bivalved Cambrian arthropods.