Kerygmachela

Name: Kerygmachela
Phonetic: Keh-rig-ma-kel-a.
Named By: Graham E.‭ ‬Budd‭ ‬-‭ ‬1993.‭
Classification: Arthropoda,‭ ‬Dinocaridida,‭ ‬Radiodonta,‭ ‬Anomalocarididae.
Species: K.‭ ‬kierkegaardi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Approximately‭ ‬60-65‭ ‬millimetres long.
Known locations: Greenland‭ ‬-‭ ‬Sirius Passet.
Time period: Botomian of the Cambrian.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.

       Kerygmachela was an aquatic arthropod of the Cambrian that is thought to be related to the larger Anomalocaris,‭ ‬hence the placement of Kerygmachela within the Anomalocarididae.‭ ‬The type species name,‭ ‬K.‭ ‬kierkegaardi,‭ ‬is in honour of Soren Kierkegaard,‭ ‬a Danish philosopher.
       Kerygmachela had eleven pairs of lateral lobes,‭ ‬out growths that extended from the sides of the main body that appear to have been used for swimming.‭ ‬Although not an especially fast swimmer,‭ ‬Kerygmachela was probably still fast enough to catch‭ ‬its preferred prey items.‭ ‬Like the aforementioned Anomalocaris,‭ ‬Kerygmachela had two frontal limbs,‭ ‬although they appear to have curved to the sides to form a large pincer rather than downwards.‭ ‬These limbs also seem to have large spines that would have been capable of skewering soft bodied prey animals.‭ ‬The mouth of Kerygmachela was between these two limbs so it probably ate as it held its prey in its limbs.‭ Kerygmachela was originally reconstructed with two rearward pointing cerci,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬later studies have shown that there was actually only one.‭ ‬This single cerci was easily as long as the body.
       Another similar arthropod that has also been found in the same area as Kerygmachela is Pambdelurion,‭ ‬although it appears to have had quite a different lifestyle.

Further reading
- A Cambrian gilled lobopod from Greenland - Nature 364 (6439): 709 - Graham E. Budd - 1993.
- The morphology and phylogenetic significance of Kerygmachela kierkegaardi Budd (Buen Formation, Lower Cambrian, N Greenland) - Transactions-Royal Society of Edinburgh 89: 249–290 - Graham E. Budd - 1999.
- Brain and eyes of Kerygmachela reveal protocerebral ancestry of the panarthropod head. - Nature Communications. 9 (1): 1019. - Tae-Yoon S. Park, Ji-Hoon Kihm, Jusun Woo, Changkun Park, Won Young Lee, M. Paul Smith, David A. T. Harper, Fletcher Young, Arne T. Nielsen & Jakob Vinther - 2018.

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