ANOMALOCARIS AND OTHER LARGE ANIMALS IN THE LOWER CAMBRIAN CHENGJIANGFAUNA OF SOUTHWEST CHINA

Five anomalocaridids are described from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna of China: Anomalocaris saron sp.n., Anomalocaris sp., Amplectobe lua symbrachiata gen. et sp.n., Cucumericrus decoratus gen, et sp.n., and Parapeytoia yunnanensis gen. et sp.n. Ventral trunk appendages are reported for the first time. In C. decoratus and P. yunnanensis, each appendage has a distal segmented walking leg, and a wide lateral exte nsion of a long proximal portion forms the structure previously descri bed as a lateral fin. Furthermore, the structure of the dorsum is eluc idated. The supposed ventrolateral gills are flat scales covering the back in transverse rows. The mouth was directed backwards, as in the M iddle Cambrian Opabinia regalis, and not directed ventrally as in prev ious reconstructions. The radial arrangement of the circum-oral scleri tes suggests that anomalocaridids were related to aschelminth worms ra ther than to arthropods.