Family †Waptiidae | Clade Crustaceomorpha Species †C. ovata Order Waptiidae | |
Genus †ChuandianellaHou and Bergström, 1991 Similar Occacaris, Acanthomeridion, Pectocaris, Forfexicaris, Urokodia | ||
Chuandianella ovata is an extinct shrimp-like stem group crustacean that lived during the Atdabanian Age of the Early Cambrian (about 520 to 516 million years ago). It is the only species classified under the genus Chuandianella of the family Waptiidae. Its fossils were recovered from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte of the Maotianshan Shales in China.
It was originally described in 1975 under the "ostracod"-like genus Mononotella, as Mononotella ovata. In 1991, the paleontologists Xian-Guang Hou and Jan Bergström reclassified it under the new genus Chuandianella when additional discoveries of more complete specimens made its resemblance to Waptia fieldensis more apparent. Like W. fieldensis, Chuandianella ovata had a bivalved carapace with a median ridge, a pair of caudal rami, a single pair of antennae, and stalked eyes. In 2004, paleontologist Jun-Yuan Chen tentatively transferred it to the genus Waptia. However, C. ovata had eight abdominal somites in contrast to five in W. fieldensis. Its limbs were biramous and were undifferentiated, unlike those of W. fieldensis. Other authors deemed these differences to be enough to separate it from Waptia to its own genus.