The lobopod Onychodictyon from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte revisited

Onychodictyon ferox, from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte, is a worm-like armored lobopod with 10 pairs of dorsal plates and a pair of probable sensory appendages (antennae). Newly discovered complete specimens show that Onychodictyon is represented by two species: O.ferox with a head bearing a pair of dorsal antennae and it trunk with 11 pairs of limbs, whereas O. gracilis has a blunt anterior end without any appendages and a trunk with 12 pairs of limbs. Because of the close resemblance of the antennae of O.ferox and those of the lobopod Miraluolishania, they are considered to be homologous structures. The antennae of Cambrian lobopodians are proposed to be homologous With the arthropod antennulae.