Plenocaris Temporal range:
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Life restoration | |
Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Clade: | Mandibulata |
Order: | † Hymenocarina |
Family: | † Waptiidae |
Genus: | †
Plenocaris Whittington 1974 |
Species: | †P. plena
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Binomial name | |
†Plenocaris plena (Walcott 1912)
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Plenocaris plena is a Cambrian arthropod with a bivalved carapace, and is known from the Burgess shale [1] and Chengjiang. [2] Originally described as a species of Yohoia by Walcott in 1912, it was placed into its own genus in 1974.
The head has a pair of simple antennae. The body has 13 tergites, with trunk tergites 2 to 4 having pairs of elongate and uniramous appendages, with appendages absent from the other body segments. [3] The body terminates with paired tail flukes. unlike waptiids, but similar to Synophalos, the tail flukes lack segmentation. [4] 106 specimens of Plenocaris are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.20% of the community. [5] It has been suggested to be a member of Hymenocarina, which contains numerous other Cambrian bivalved arthropods. [6] Some specimens have been found with sediment within the gut tract, suggesting it was a deposit feeder. The lack of swimming appendages means that swimming was likely primarily accomplished with movement of the trunk and tail fan. [3]
Briggs, D.E.G. (1983), "Affinities and early evolution of the Crustacea: the evidence of the Cambrian fossils", Crustacean Issues