Dinocarida
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| Dinocarida Fossil range: Cambrian |
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Amplectobelua |
Dinocarida is a proposed taxon of fossil arthropod-like marine animals found in the early and middle Cambrian. Two subgroups are known, the anomalocarids and the opabinids. The name of this group comes from Greek, "deinos" and "caris," meaning "terror shrimp" or "terror crab," due to their vaguely crustacean-like appearance.
Dinocarids often had several pairs (usually 10) of swimming lobes. It is thought that these lobes moved in an up-and-down motion to propel the animal forward (the cuttlefish uses a similar technique to move around).
The placement of Dinocarida is uncertain: they appear to be allied to arthropods, but are unlikely to be crown group arthropods. Some taxonomists place them as a separate phylum, others as a stem group within the phylum of arthropods. In some recent works they are grouped with other enigmatic forms in the phylum Lobopodia.
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