Anomalocaris

Anomalocaris is an extinct genus of radiodont, an order of early-diverging stem-group marine arthropods. It is best known from the type species A. canadensis, found in the Stephen Formation of British Columbia, Canada. The other named species A. daleyae is known from the somewhat older Emu Bay Shale of Australia. Other unnamed Anomalocaris species are known from China and the United States.

A picture published with the record for Anomalocaris.

Chris Woodrich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AnomalocarididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektonicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 516 Mya to 504.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 497 Mya.

Cambrian — about 34 of 34 occurrencesCambrian540–538 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences538–537 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences537–535 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences535–534 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences534–532 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences532–531 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences531–529 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences529–528 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences528–527 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences527–525 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences525–524 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences524–522 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences522–521 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences521–519 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences519–518 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences518–516 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 1 occurrence515–514 Mya — about 4 occurrences514–512 Mya — about 4 occurrences512–511 Mya — about 3 occurrences511–509 Mya — about 3 occurrences509–508 Mya — about 3 occurrences508–506 Mya — about 3 occurrences506–505 Mya — about 2 occurrences505–503 Mya — about 1 occurrence503–502 Mya — about 1 occurrence502–501 Mya — about 1 occurrence501–499 Mya — about 1 occurrence499–498 Mya — about 1 occurrence498–496 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences516 Mya504.5 Mya539.6 Mya496.2 Mya

34 occurrences of Anomalocaris on record, most of them in the Cambrian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

34 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

15 formations

Kinzers — 40.04°N, 76.31°WKinzers — 40.00°N, 76.73°WKinzers — 40.07°N, 76.37°WKinzers — 40.09°N, 76.35°WBurgess Shale — 51.43°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WPioche Shale — 37.53°N, 114.73°WPioche Shale — 37.89°N, 114.61°WPioche Shale — 37.77°N, 114.56°WYuanshan — 24.80°N, 102.58°EParker Slate — 44.48°N, 73.21°WParker Slate — 44.74°N, 73.16°WPioche — 37.80°N, 114.57°WPioche — 37.89°N, 114.61°WMarsden Sandstone — 35.58°S, 137.50°EWeeks — 39.22°N, 113.40°WStephen — 51.40°N, 116.48°WMarjum — 39.00°N, 113.00°WLower Wheeler Shale — 39.00°N, 113.00°WLead Bell Shale — 42.00°N, 112.00°WLangston — 41.59°N, 112.04°WMount Cap — 66.63°N, 126.30°WBalang — 28.45°N, 108.80°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Anomalocaris has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Anomalocaris and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Anomalocaris and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

339 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Anomalocaris, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

18 references

Each of the 34 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 6 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Anomalocaris

Credit
Chris Woodrich
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAnomalocarididae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.