Stanleycaris
Stanleycaris is an extinct, monotypic genus of hurdiid radiodont from the middle Cambrian (Miaolingian). The type species is Stanleycaris hirpex. Stanleycaris was described from the Stephen Formation near the Stanley Glacier and Burgess Shale locality of Canada, as well as Wheeler Formation of United States. The genus was characterized by the rake-like frontal appendages with robust inner spines.
| Stanleycaris Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of S. hirpex | |
| Fossil specimens of S. hirpex | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | †Dinocaridida |
| Order: | †Radiodonta |
| Family: | †Hurdiidae |
| Genus: | †Stanleycaris |
| Species: | †S. hirpex |
| Binomial name | |
| †Stanleycaris hirpex Pates, Daley & Ortega-Hernández (2018) | |
Stanleycaris was originally described only from frontal appendages and oral cone. However, in 2022, 268 specimens of Stanleycaris, many of which were complete, were studied, making Stanleycaris a well documented radiodont. Stanleycaris had three eyes, a bizarre configuration previously unknown among other radiodont genera; yet this head anatomy supports early differentiation among arthropod head and trunk segmentation.
The original description of the taxon appeared in an online supplement to the article published by Jean-Bernard Caron, Robert R. Gaines, M. Gabriela Mángano, Michael Streng and Allison C. Daley in 2010. That description did not satisfy of the requirements of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, as the Code did not accept taxa named in electronic publications as validly named until 2012; the name was eventually validated by Pates, Daley & Ortega-Hernández (2018).