| Amplectobelua Temporal range: Cambrian |
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| Amplectobelua symbrachiata | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Stem-group: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | †Dinocaridida |
| Order: | †Radiodonta |
| Family: | †Anomalocarididae |
| Genus: | †Amplectobelua Hou, Bergström & Ahlberg, 1995 |
| Species | |
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Amplectobelua is an extinct genus of anomalocaridid, a group of very early marine animals. While completely different from any animal alive today, some scientists do believe that the very primitive anomalocarids were in fact somewhat related to arthropods. They are placed in their own taxon, the Dinocarida, which they may share with the five-eyed Opabinia, another extremely odd-looking Cambrian marine animal. The genus is represented by a species in each of the Chengjiang and Burgess Shale deposits.[1]
Compared to other anomalocarids, Amplectobelua is smaller and more compact (although still much bigger than most, if not all other animals of its time). It had big eyes, which were positioned laterally of the mouth, and several extended lobes on both sides of its segmented body, used for swimming. It had a pair long, feeler-like cerci that extended from the posterior end of the body, and two claw-like appendages on the front of its face. The latter were probably used to capture prey and deliver it to Amplectobelua's mouth, located at the bottom of its face.
"Amplectobelua stephenensis". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011. http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/fossil-gallery/view-species.php?id=21.