Kodymirus
| Kodymirus Temporal range: Cambrian Series 2
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| Artist's restoration | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| (unranked): | †Artiopoda |
| (unranked): | †Vicissicaudata |
| Genus: | †Kodymirus Chlupáč & Havlíček, 1965 |
| Species: | †K. vagans
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| Binomial name | |
| †Kodymirus vagans Chlupáč & Havlíček, 1965
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Kodymirus is a genus of Early Cambrian arthropod, known from the Czech Republic. Although it possessed great appendage-like raptorial arms, it was not homologous with those of megacheirans. Kodymirus is currently considered a member of Vicissicaudata, closely related to aglaspidids, and more distantly to trilobites. It is part of a small and low-diversity Paseky Shale fauna group, which dwelt in brackish waters.[1]
Description
[edit]Kodymirus was a small predator at 80 mm (3.1 in) long. Its distinctive feature is pair of large, serrated raptorial appendages. These appendages appear convergent to those of megacheirans and radiodonts, but are not homologous as they postantennular, suggesting raptorial arms evolved multiple times in Cambrian arthropods.[2]
Paleoecology
[edit]
Kodymirus inhabited the Paseky Shale, within the modern day Czech Republic, which may be a shallow marine environment or brackish estuary.[2][3] Trace fossils from the Shale have been interpreted as Kodymirus raking its claws along the sediment while swimming, disturbing benthic prey buried beneath the muck. This would make Kodymirus the earliest known arthropod predator in the intertidal zone.[2]
Taxonomy
[edit]Kodymirus was previously considered an enigmatic arthropod, and its precise taxonomic affinity remained uncertain. It was initially believed to be an early eurypterid and later a megacheiran.[2][1] Kodymirus is currently been placed within the clade Vicissicaudata, a subgroup of Artiopoda, the clade containing trilobites and their close relatives. Within Vicissicaudata, it is generally considered closely related to the order Aglaspidida.[4][2][1] Its basipods closely resembles those of the vicissicaudatan Emeraldella.[2]
Cladogram after McCoy et al. 2025:[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Chlupáč, I. "Lower Cambrian arthropods from the Paseky Shale (Barrandian area, Czech Republic)". Journal of the Czech Geological Society. 40 (4): 9–36. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ a b c d e f Lamsdell, James C.; Stein, Martin; Selden, Paul A. (2013-09-01). "Kodymirus and the case for convergence of raptorial appendages in Cambrian arthropods". Naturwissenschaften. 100 (9): 811–825. doi:10.1007/s00114-013-1081-y. ISSN 1432-1904.
- ^ "Ichnotaxonomy of the Cambrian Spence Shale Member of the Langston formation, Wellsville Mountains, Northern Utah, USA". Paleontological Contributions. 2018. doi:10.17161/1808.26428. hdl:1808/26428. ISSN 1946-0279.
- ^ Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy; Zhu, Xuejian; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (2017-09-11). "The Vicissicaudata revisited – insights from a new aglaspidid arthropod with caudal appendages from the Furongian of China". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 11117. Bibcode:2017NatSR...711117L. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-11610-5. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5593897. PMID 28894246.
- ^ McCoy, Victoria E.; Herrera, Fabiany; Wittry, Jack; Mayer, Paul; Lamsdell, James C. (2025). "A possible vicissicaudatan arthropod from the Late Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte". Geological Magazine. 162. doi:10.1017/S001675682400044X.
