Cardiodictyon

{{Short description|Extinct genus of lobopodians}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Early Cambrian {{Fossil range|525|518}}

| image = 20210926 Cardiodictyon catenulum diagrammatic reconstruction.png

| taxon = Cardiodictyon

| parent_authority = Hou & Bergström, 1995

| authority = Hou, Ramsköld & Bergström, 1991

| type_species = Cardiodictyon catenulum

| type_species_authority = Hou, Ramsköld & Bergström, 1991

}}

File:Cardiodictyon NGMC.jpg]]

Cardiodictyon is a genus of lobopodian known from 518 millions years old Chengjiang Lagerstätte. 525 millions years old partial fossil is also reported. It has ~25 pairs of legs, each associated with a pair of dorsal plates.

Each leg terminates in a pair of claws.Ramsköld, L., & Chen, J.-Y. (1998). Cambrian Lobopodians: Morphology and Phylogeny. In Arthropod fossils and phylogeny (pp. 107–150). New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|978-0231096546}} It may or may not have a head shield,{{Cite journal| pages = 237–245| year = 2001| doi = 10.1078/0044-5231-00031| last2 = Hou| first1 = J.| volume = 240| last1 = Bergstrom| journal = Zoologischer Anzeiger | first2 = X.| title = Cambrian Onychophora or Xenusians| issue = 3–4| bibcode = 2001ZooAn.240..237B}} though it certainly has an expanded head.{{Cite journal |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=398 |date=15 March 2014 |pages=4–15 |title=Cambrian lobopodians: A review of recent progress in our understanding of their morphology and evolution |author=Jianni Liu |author2=Jason A. Dunlop |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.06.008 |bibcode=2014PPP...398....4L }}

In 2022, a 518 million years old specimen of C. catenulum was researched and shown an unsegmented head and a brain composed of three separate cephalic parts.{{cite journal |last1=Strausfield |first1=Nicholas J. |last2=Hou |first2=Xianguang |last3=Sayre |first3=Marcel E. |last4=Hirth |first4=Frank |date=24 November 2022 |title=The lower Cambrian lobopodian Cardiodictyon resolves the origin of euarthropod brains |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn6264 |journal=Science |volume=378 |issue=6622 |pages=905–909 |doi=10.1126/science.abn6264 |pmid=36423269 |bibcode=2022Sci...378..905S |s2cid=253839538 |access-date=2 December 2022|url-access=subscription }} However, although "three parts" in this study means prosocerebrum, protocerebrum and deutocerebrum, it is different from earlier studies that referred protocerebrum, deutocerebrum and tritocerebrum as tripartite brain of arthropod, and treated posocerebrum as part of protocerebrum.{{Cite journal |last1=Lan |first1=Tian |last2=Zhao |first2=Yuanlong |last3=Zhao |first3=Fangchen |last4=He |first4=You |last5=Martinez |first5=Pedro |last6=Strausfeld |first6=Nicholas J. |date=2021-10-11 |title=Leanchoiliidae reveals the ancestral organization of the stem euarthropod brain |journal=Current Biology |language=English |volume=31 |issue=19 |pages=4397–4404.e2 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2021.07.048 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=34416180|s2cid=237235251 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021CBio...31E4397L }}{{Cite journal |last1=Lev |first1=Oren |last2=Edgecombe |first2=Gregory D |last3=Chipman |first3=Ariel D |date=2022 |title=Serial Homology and Segment Identity in the Arthropod Head |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/iob/obac015 |journal=Integrative Organismal Biology |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=obac015 |doi=10.1093/iob/obac015 |pmid=35620450 |pmc=9128542 |issn=2517-4843}}