Omnidens
Sign in to saveOmnidens, meaning "all-tooth", is an extinct genus of large Cambrian animal known only from a series of large mouth apparatus and sclerotized talon-like structures, originally mistaken as the mouthparts of anomalocaridids. When first named, it was interpreted as a giant priapulid, but is now considered a panarthropod. Its mouth apparatus closely resembles that of the smaller gilled lobopodian Pambdelurion, indicating it is likely to have been a close relative of that species. With a maximum estimated body length of , Omnidens is suggested to have been the largest known free-living Cambrian org
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- Dinocaridida
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- taxon name
- Omnidens
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- Omnidens
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Encyclopedic overview
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- Description
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Omnidens, meaning "all-tooth", is an extinct genus of large Cambrian animal known only from a series of large mouth apparatus and sclerotized talon-like structures, originally mistaken as the mouthparts of anomalocaridids. When first named, it was interpreted as a giant priapulid, but is now considered a panarthropod. Its mouth apparatus closely resembles that of the smaller gilled lobopodian Pambdelurion, indicating it is likely to have been a close relative of that species. With a maximum estimated body length of , Omnidens is suggested to have been the largest known free-living Cambrian organism. Omnidens fossils are found in the Maotianshan Shales in the Yunnan Province of southern China, and are especially abundant from the slightly younger Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte locality.
==History==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Omnidens” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.