[PapersinPalaeontology,2024,e1583]

Exceptionallypreservedradiodontarthropodsfromthelower

€

Cambrian(Stage3)QingjiangLagerstatteofHubei,South

Chinaandthebiogeographicanddiversi?cationpatterns

ofradiodonts

byYUWU1,2,STEPHENPATES2,3,MINGJINGZHANG1,WEILIANGLIN1,

JIAXINMA1,CONGLIU1,YUHENGWU1,XINGLIANGZHANG1,4and

DONGJINGFU1,*

1StateKeyLaboratoryofContinentalDynamics,ShaanxiKeyLaboratoryofEarlyLifeEnvironments,DepartmentofGeology,NorthwestUniversity,Xi’an

710069,China;djfu@

2DepartmentofZoology,UniversityofCambridge,DowningStreet,CambridgeCB23EJ,UK

3CentreforEcologyConservation,UniversityofExeter,PenrynCampus,TrelieverRoadPenryn,CornwallTR109FE,UK

4NanjingInstituteofGeologyPaleontology,ChineseAcademyofSciences,Nanjing210008,China

*Correspondingauthor

Typescriptreceived9January2024;acceptedinrevisedform17June2024

Abstract:TheCambrian(Series2,Stage3)Qingjiangdiversityofradiodonts(inparticularhurdiids)intheirearly

€evolutionaryhistory.Radiodontpalaeobiogeographicpatterns

LagerstatteofSouthChinaisoneofthemostdiverseBurgess

Shale-typedepositsaroundtheworld,yieldingabundantarevisualizedusingnetworkanalysis.LaurentiaandSouth

non-biomineralizedfossils.Radiodonta,ataxonomicallyandChinasharemanymembersatthegenuslevel,Anomalocarisis

ecologicallydiversestem-euarthropodgroup,hasbeengener-themostcosmopolitantaxon,butmostgeneraareendemic.

allythoughttorepresentthelargestconsumersinearlyPalaeo