Mieridduryn

This animal was described in 2022 based on a singular fossil found in Castle Bank, a Burgess shale type lagerstätte located in the country of Wales.

One is that this animal represents a new grade of stem-euarthropods that evolved features similar to the Cambrian aged opabiniids (a family of basal arthropods).

The specific quarry is a part of the larger Gilwern Volcanic Formation, and the graptolites found dated the site to the Darriwilian of the Middle Ordovician.

[1] This animal shares a lot of features that are characteristic of dinocaridids (including tetraradial mouthparts, flapping trunk appendages, and lobopod like legs).

The head of the creature bore a fused proboscis that had slender spines coming off the top, and could have also possessed a claw-like appendage.

[1][2] Pambdelurion Opabiniidae Mieridduryn (Castle Bank (Wales, UK) specimens) Radiodonta Deuteropoda Before this creatures discovery, it was thought that hurdiid radiodonts (like Aegirocassis, Pseudoangustidontus and Schinderhannes) were the only dinocaridids that survived past the Cambrian.

Oral cone