| Odaraia alata Temporal range: Middle Cambrian |
|
|---|---|
| Odaraia alata reconstruction | |
| Odoraia alata fossil | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca (?) |
| Order: | †Canadaspidida |
| Family: | †Odaraidae Simonetta & Delle Cave 1975 |
| Genus: | †Odaraia Walcott 1912 |
| Species: | †O. alata |
| Binomial name | |
| Odaraia alata Walcott 1912 |
|
Odaraia is a genus of crustacean arthropod from the Middle Cambrian. Its fossils, which reach 15cm in length,[1] have been found in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, Canada. 217 specimens of Odaraia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.41% of the community.[2]
It bore a large pair of eyes at the front of its body,[1] and may have had two smaller eyes in between.[3] It had a tubular body with at least 45 pairs of biramous limbs, and its tail had three fins - two horizontal, one vertical - which were used to stabilise the animal as it swam on its back.[1]
Odaria probably captured small swimming animals in its shell.