Temporal range: Middle Cambrian - Middle Ordovician, 507–475 Ma
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O
S
D
C
P
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Opabinia (top) and Utaurora (bottom)
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
†Dinocaridida
Family:
†Opabiniidae Walcott, 1912
Genera
†Opabinia
†Utaurora
†Mieridduryn
†Myoscolex?
Opabiniidae is an extinct family of marine stem-arthropods.[1] 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 also distinguishable from radiodonts by setal blades covering at least part of the body flaps and serrated caudal rami.[2]
Cross sectionSize comparison
^Tamisiea, Jack (8 February 2022). "One of Evolution's Oddest Creatures Finds a Fossilized Family Member - Opabinia, which swam the seas of Earth's Cambrian era some 500 million years ago, was not just a one hit wonder". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
Opabiniidae is an extinct family of marine stem-arthropods. Its type and best-known genus is Opabinia. It also contains Utaurora, and Mieridduryn. Opabiniids...
literatures, as the group compose of Radiodonta (Anomalocaris and relatives), Opabiniidae (Opabinia and relatives), and the "gilled lobopodians" Pambdelurion and...
Eukaryota Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: †Dinocaridida Family: †Opabiniidae Genus: †Mieridduryn Pates et al, 2022 Type species Mieridduryn bonniae...
similarity to Opabinia, the discoverers of Utaurora classified it in Opabiniidae. Their phylogenetic analyses generally found support for an opabiniid...
the class Dinocarida to contain the order Radiodonta as well as the Opabiniidae, which he recognized as distinct due to its lacking the distinctive oral...
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