Fortiforceps

{{Short description|Extinct genus of arthropods}}

{{automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Cambrian Stage 3}}

| image = Fortiforceps fossils.png

| image_upright = 1.15

| image_caption = Fossils

| image2 = Fortiforceps reconstruction.png

| image2_caption = Diagrammatic reconstruction

| taxon = Fortiforceps

| authority = Hou and Bergström 1997

| type_species = Fortiforceps foliosa

| type_species_authority = Hou and Bergström 1997

}}

File:Artistic reconstructions of Fortiforceps foliosa and Sklerolibyon maomima gen. et sp. nov. in early Cambrian Gondwanian seas.png (right)]]

File:20191025 Fortiforceps foliosa.png

Fortiforceps is an extinct genus of Cambrian megacheiran marine arthropod known from the Chengjiang biota of Yunnan, China. It was originally described by Hou and Bergström in 1997,{{Citation |last1=Hou |first1=X. |title=Arthropods of the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna, southwest China |url=https://foreninger.uio.no/ngf/FOS/pdfs/F&S_45.pdf |number=45 |pages=1–116 |year=1997 |series=Fossils & Strata |publisher=Scandinavian University Press |issn=2637-6032 |last2=Bergström |first2=J.}} and redescribed in 2020.{{Cite journal |last1=Aria |first1=Cédric |last2=Zhao |first2=Fangchen |last3=Zeng |first3=Han |last4=Guo |first4=Jin |last5=Zhu |first5=Maoyan |date=December 2020 |title=Fossils from South China redefine the ancestral euarthropod body plan |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=4 |doi=10.1186/s12862-019-1560-7 |issn=1471-2148 |pmc=6950928 |pmid=31914921 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020BMCEE..20....4A }} It was relatively small, at {{Convert|4|cm|in}} or less in length. The head had a pair of large, stalked eyes, a pair of frontal projections, as well as a pair of great appendages, like other megacheirans, along with two other cephalic appendages. The trunk had either 20 or 22 segments, depending on the specimen. These segments had pronounced blade-like spines on their upper-outer edge. Each of the trunk segments (aside from the last, typically 20th segment) were associated with pairs of biramous limbs, which probably have seven podomeres and like other megacheirans, have paddle-shaped exopods. The trunk terminated with a forked tailpiece, which on their outer edges had rod-like structures. The two lobes were separated by a rectangular central piece. It has been placed as a member of the family Jiangfengiidae, alongside Jianfengia, Sklerolibyon and possibly Parapeytoia.