Opabiniidae

Opabiniidae is an extinct family of marine stem-arthropods. Its type and best-known genus is Opabinia. It also contains Utaurora, and Mieridduryn. Opabiniids closely resemble radiodonts, but their frontal appendages were basally fused into a proboscis. Opabiniids are also distinguishable from radiodonts by setal blades covering at least part of the body flaps and serrated caudal rami. thumb|Cross section of the trunk of Utaurora and [[Opabinia]] thumb|Size comparison of Utaurora and [[Opabinia]]

==History of study== Opabiniidae was named by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1912, alongside its type species Opabinia. Walcott interpreted Opabiniidae as a family of anostracan crustaceans, most closely related to Thamnocephalidae. Opabinia was restudied in the 1970s, and reinterpreted as a stranger animal. Stephen Jay Gould referred to Opabinia as a "weird wonder", and an illustration of Opabinia prompted laughter when it was first revealed at a paleontological conference. In 2022, two more opabiniids were discovered, those being Utaurora and Mieridduryn.