Occacaris oviformis

Taxobox
name = "Occacaris oviformis"
status = fossil

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fossil_range = Lower Cambrian
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Megacheira†
ordo = Pectocaridida
familia = Occacarididae
genus = "Occacaris"
species = "O. oviformis"

"Occacaris oviformis" was a nektonic predatory arthropod from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shale Lagerstätte. It bears a superficial resemblance to the Cambrian arthropod, "Canadaspis", though, was much smaller, and had a pair of "great appendages," with which it may have grasped prey with.

It had a bivalved carapace that covered most of its body, leaving only the last two tergites of its trunk, with the telson jutting out of the posterior end of the carapace, and the eyes, antennae, and "great appendages" jutting out of the anterior end. The spines of the great appendages are paired, setting it apart from its relatives, "Fortiforceps foliosa", and "Forfexicaris valida".

References

*Xian-Guang Hou, "The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life". (Blackwell, 2004)