Sidneyia
| Sidneyia Temporal range:
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|---|---|
| Reconstruction of Sidneyia inexpectans | |
| Fossil of S. inexpectans | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | †Artiopoda |
| (unranked): | †Vicissicaudata |
| Genus: | †Sidneyia Walcott, 1911 |
| Type species | |
| †Sidneyia inexpectans Walcott, 1911
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| Species | |
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Sidneyia is an extinct marine arthropod known from fossils found from the Early to the Mid Cambrian of China and the Mid Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. It is thought to have been a durophagous (crushing) predator that used its spine-covered leg bases (gnathobases) to feed on hard-bodied animals like trilobites and brachiopods, as well as possibly soft bodied animals. It was historically placed in the group "Xenopoda" alongside Emeraldella. It is now placed within the clade Vicissicaudata along with aglaspidids, chelonellids, as well as Emeraldella, among others. Vicissicaudata forms part of the broader group Artiopoda, which includes trilobites.