Pambdelurion

Pambdelurion whittingtoni Temporal range: Cambrian stage 3 PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil showing external anatomy, from [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	†Dinocaridida
Order:	†Radiodonta
Suborder:	†Anomalocarida
Family:	†Anomalocarididae (?)
Genus:	†Pambdelurion
Species:	†P. whittingtoni
Binomial name
Pambdelurion whittingtoni Budd 1997

Pambdelurion whittingtoni is an extinct, blind, nektonic organism from the Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, from Cambrian Greenland. Its anatomy strongly suggests that it, along with its relative Kerygmachela kierkegaardi, was either an anomalocarid or a close relative thereof.^[2]

P. whittingtoni had a pair of massive anterior limbs that corresponded to the feeding limbs of other anomalocarids. The anterior limbs had a row of flexible, hair-like spines that corresponded with each segment of each limb. Unlike K. kierkegaardi, P. whittingtoni's mouth was relatively large, though it does not appear to have any large biting surfaces like the mouth of Anomalocaris. It had 11 pairs of lateral lobes, and 11 pairs of relatively large, lobopod-like legs. None of the fossil specimens have any suggestion of posterior cerci, or tail-flaps.

The massive anterior limbs, with their comb-like rows of spines, suggest that P. whittingtoni was a planktivore.

External links

• Anomalocarid Homepage
• Palaeos

References