# Fortiforceps
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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Fortiforceps.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortiforceps
> Source revision: 1333084182
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{{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](/source/Hou_Xian-guang) 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|left|thumb|270x270px|Restoration of ''Fortiforceps'' (left) with relative ''[Sklerolibyon](/source/Sklerolibyon)'' (right)]]
thumb|Reconstruction of ''Fortiforceps foliosa''|left
'''''Fortiforceps''''' is an extinct genus of [Cambrian](/source/Cambrian) [megacheiran](/source/Megacheira) marine arthropod known from the [Chengjiang biota](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Great_appendage), like other megacheirans, along with two other [cephalic](/source/Cephalon_(arthropod_head)) 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](/source/biramous) limbs, which probably have seven podomeres and like other megacheirans, have paddle-shaped [exopods](/source/Arthropod_leg). 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](/source/Jianfengia), [Sklerolibyon](/source/Sklerolibyon)'' and possibly ''[Parapeytoia](/source/Parapeytoia)''.