Temporal range: Early Cambrian to Middle Cambrian (Stage 3 to Guzhangian), 520–499 Ma[1]
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ROMIP 51212, a largely complete specimen of Anomalocaris canadensis.
Life restoration of Anomalocaris canadensis.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
†Dinocaridida
Order:
†Radiodonta
Family:
†Anomalocarididae
Genus:
†Anomalocaris Whiteaves, 1892
Species
A. canadensis Whiteaves, 1892
=A. whiteavesiWalcott, 1908
=A. giganteaWalcott, 1912
=A. cranbrookensisResser, 1929
A. daleyaePaterson, García-Bellidob & Edgecombe, 2023[2]
(8 more unnamed species[3])
Anomalocaris ("unlike other shrimp", or "abnormal shrimp") is an extinct genus of radiodont, an order of early-diverging stem-group arthropods.
It is best known from the type species A. canadensis, found in the Stephen Formation (particularly the Burgess Shale) of British Columbia, Canada. The species A. daleyae is known from the somewhat older Emu Bay Shale of Australia.[2] Other undescribed remains are known from China and the United States.[3]
Like other radiodonts, Anomalocaris had swimming flaps running along its body, large compound eyes, and a single pair of segmented, frontal appendages, which in Anomalocaris were used to grasp prey. Measuring up to 38 cm (1.25 ft) long excluding frontal appendages and tail fan,[4]A. canadensis is one of the largest animals of the Cambrian, and thought to be one of the earliest examples of an apex predator,[5][6] though others have been found in older Cambrian lagerstätten deposits.
Since the original description in late 19th century,[7] the frontal appendages were the only known fossilized parts and misidentified as the body parts of other animals.[8] Its radiodont affinity was revealed in 1980s, specifically in a 1985 journal article by Harry B. Whittington and Derek Briggs.[9] The trunk and mouth were reconstructed after another radiodont genus until the corrections done in 1996[8] and 2012.[10] It is the type genus of Anomalocarididae, a family which previously included all radiodonts but recently only Anomalocaris and a few closely-related taxa.[3]
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included all radiodonts but recently only Anomalocaris and a few closely-related taxa. From the start, Anomalocaris fossil was misidentified, followed by...
region. The genus Anomalocaris in a broader sense always found to be polyphyletic, usually with "Anomalocaris" kunmingensis and "Anomalocaris" briggsi resolved...
species. G. kunmingensis which was described in 2013 as a species of Anomalocaris before being placed in a new genus in 2023. Like many other radiodonts...
of Anomalocaris, also from the Burgess Shale. Soon after that, Swedish palaeontologist Jan Bergström, noting in 1986 the similarity of Anomalocaris and...
nathorsti reclassified as Anomalocaris nathorsti. Peytoia nathorsti was subsequently considered a junior synonym of Anomalocaris canadensis, while Laggania...
history, dating at least to the Cambrian period when animals such as Anomalocaris and Timorebestia dominated the seas. Humans have for many centuries interacted...
to as "Anomalocaris" briggsi, it was placed in the new monotypic genus Echidnacaris in 2023. It is only distantly related to true Anomalocaris, and is...
'AOPK group' by some literatures, as the group compose of Radiodonta (Anomalocaris and relatives), Opabiniidae (Opabinia and relatives), and the "gilled...
hemichordates, along with numerous now-extinct forms such as the predatory Anomalocaris. The apparent suddenness of the event may however be an artifact of the...
shale in Nevada, is originally described as Anomalocaris cf. saron in 2003, and later named as Anomalocaris magnabasis in 2019. This species is only known...
represent transitional fossils between stem (e.g. Radiodonta such as Anomalocaris) and true arthropods. Re-examination in the 1970s of the Burgess Shale...
restricted to only Anomalocaris and, if any, a few of closely related genera since then. Wu et al. 2021 accepted only Anomalocaris (excluding "A." saron...
was covered by the vast Lake Bonneville, and fossils of species like anomalocaris have been found throughout the region. Much like the popular Loch Ness...
Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-03. Nedin, C. (1999). "Anomalocaris predation on nonmineralized and mineralized trilobites". Geology. 27...
of Anomalocaris-like structures on one end of a specimen of Laggania, which also had a specimen of Peytoia attached just behind those of Anomalocaris. After...
Paleontology, said that the animal "bridges the evolutionary gap from Anomalocaris to true arthropods and forms a key ‘missing link’ in the origin of arthropods...
like these Elrathia kingii were very common arthropods during this time Anomalocaris was an early marine predator, a member of the stem-arthropod group Radiodonta...
were often defined solely to accommodate these finds – the story of Anomalocaris is an example of this. The risk of this mistake is higher for older fossils...
the most inclusive clade including Amplectobelua symbrachiata but not Anomalocaris canadensis, Tamisiocaris borealis, or Hurdia victoria. Amplectobeluids...
reduced. A. symbrachiata is previously named as a species of Anomalocaris, Anomalocaris trispinata in 1992, before description of A. symbrachiata. Some...
lupata has smaller, triangular endites, closely resembling those of Anomalocaris. L.? pennsylvanica has larger and more rectangular endites, with those...
57: 13–33, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1996.tb01693.x Nedin, C. (1999), "Anomalocaris predation on nonmineralized and mineralized trilobites", Geology, 27...
appendage of a larger, unknown animal. There had been precedent for this, as Anomalocaris had been originally identified as three separate creatures before being...
which were often defined solely to accommodate these finds—the story of Anomalocaris is an example of this. The risk of this mistake is higher for older fossils...
highly successful and were found everywhere in the ocean for 270 Ma. The Anomalocaris ("abnormal shrimp") was one of the first apex predators and first appeared...
trilobites, including two species of the giant predator Anomalocaris (A. briggsi and Anomalocaris cf. canadensis), Isoxys, Tuzoia, two species of the nektaspid...
Shale fauna. Several of the finds, including the enigmatic Opabinia and Anomalocaris have some, though not all, features associated with arthropods, and are...