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Anomalocarididae

family of radiodonts

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ134939
Source-derived summary

Anomalocarididae (occasionally mis-spelt Anomalocaridae) is an extinct family of Cambrian radiodonts, a group of stem-group arthropods.

Around 1990s and early 2010s, Anomalocarididae included all radiodont species, hence the previous equivalent of the common name "anomalocaridid" to the whole Radiodonta. This is no longer the case after the revision done by Vinther et al. 2014, as Anomalocarididae restricted to only Anomalocaris and, if any, a few of closely related genera since then. Wu et al. 2021 accepted only Anomalocaris (excluding "A." saron, "A." kunmingensis and "A." briggsi) and Lenisicaris as the member of Anomalocarididae, while Paranomalocaris is questionably included by some studies as well. Since then, other species labeled under the Anomalocaris genus, like ''A.'' saron have been reassigned to their own genus (like in the case of ''A.'' saron being redescribed as Innovatiocaris).

Anomalocarididae distinguished from the similar family Amplectobeluidae (e.g. Amplectobelua, Lyrarapax) by the presence of triradial oral cone and non-hypertrophied first distal endite. Compared to Hurdiidae and Tamisiocarididae, these two radiodont families shared a lot of characters (i.e.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Anomalocarididae” is family of radiodonts. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Anomalocarididae, family and radiodonts, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2014, 2021—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Anomalocarididae, family and radiodonts is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “family of radiodonts” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q134939. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2014 and 2021.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Anomalocarididae primary sources, Anomalocarididae archive and Anomalocarididae research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Anomalocarididae” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.