{{Short description|Extinct genus of arthropods}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Cambrian Series 2 {{Fossil range|521|509}} | image = Kodymirus_Reconstruction.jpg | image_caption = Artist's restoration | display_parents = 3 | parent_authority = Chlupáč & Havlíček, 1965 | taxon = Kodymirus vagans | authority = Chlupáč & Havlíček, 1965 }}
'''''Kodymirus''''' is an extinct genus of Early Cambrian arthropod, known from the Czech Republic. Although it possessed great appendage-like raptorial arms, it was not homologous with those of megacheirans. ''Kodymirus'' is currently considered a member of Vicissicaudata, closely related to aglaspidids, and more distantly to trilobites. It is part of a small and low-diversity Paseky Shale fauna group, which dwelt in brackish waters.<ref name="Chlupac19952">{{Cite journal |author=Chlupáč |first=I |title=Lower Cambrian arthropods from the Paseky Shale (Barrandian area, Czech Republic) |url=http://www.jgeosci.org/detail/JCGS.694 |journal=Journal of the Czech Geological Society |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=9–36 |accessdate=2009-06-06}}</ref>
== Description == ''Kodymirus'' was a small predator at {{Convert|80|mm|in|abbr=on}} long. Its distinctive feature is pair of large, serrated raptorial appendages. These appendages appear convergent to those of megacheirans and radiodonts, but are not homologous as they postantennular, suggesting raptorial arms evolved multiple times in Cambrian arthropods.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Lamsdell |first=James C. |last2=Stein |first2=Martin |last3=Selden |first3=Paul A. |date=2013-09-01 |title=Kodymirus and the case for convergence of raptorial appendages in Cambrian arthropods |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1081-y |journal=Naturwissenschaften |language=en |volume=100 |issue=9 |pages=811–825 |doi=10.1007/s00114-013-1081-y |issn=1432-1904|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Paleoecology == thumb|left|200 px|Restoration of ''Kodymirus vagans'' hunting prey in brackish waters ''Kodymirus'' inhabited the Paseky Shale, within the modern day Czech Republic, which may be a shallow marine environment or brackish estuary.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |date=2018 |title=Ichnotaxonomy of the Cambrian Spence Shale Member of the Langston formation, Wellsville Mountains, Northern Utah, USA |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.17161/1808.26428 |journal=Paleontological Contributions |doi=10.17161/1808.26428 |issn=1946-0279|doi-access=free |hdl=1808/26428 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Trace fossils from the Shale have been interpreted as ''Kodymirus'' raking its claws along the sediment while swimming, disturbing benthic prey buried beneath the muck. This would make ''Kodymirus'' the earliest known arthropod predator in the intertidal zone.<ref name=":0" />
== Taxonomy == ''Kodymirus'' was previously considered an enigmatic arthropod, and its precise taxonomic affinity remained uncertain. It was initially believed to be an early eurypterid and later a megacheiran.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Chlupac19952" /> ''Kodymirus'' is currently been placed within the clade Vicissicaudata, a subgroup of Artiopoda, the clade containing trilobites and their close relatives. Within Vicissicaudata, it is generally considered closely related to the order Aglaspidida.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Lerosey-Aubril |first1=Rudy |last2=Zhu |first2=Xuejian |last3=Ortega-Hernández |first3=Javier |date=2017-09-11 |title=The Vicissicaudata revisited – insights from a new aglaspidid arthropod with caudal appendages from the Furongian of China |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=11117 |bibcode=2017NatSR...711117L |doi=10.1038/s41598-017-11610-5 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=5593897 |pmid=28894246}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="Chlupac19952" /> Its basipods closely resembles those of the vicissicaudatan ''Emeraldella.''<ref name=":0" />
Cladogram after McCoy et al. 2025:<ref name="tardisia2">{{cite journal |last1=McCoy |first1=Victoria E. |last2=Herrera |first2=Fabiany |last3=Wittry |first3=Jack |last4=Mayer |first4=Paul |last5=Lamsdell |first5=James C. |date=2025 |title=A possible vicissicaudatan arthropod from the Late Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte |journal=Geological Magazine |volume=162 |doi=10.1017/S001675682400044X|doi-access=free }}</ref> {{Clade|{{clade |label1=Vicissicaudata |1={{Clade sequential |1=''Molaria spinifera'' 70px |2=''Emeraldella brocki'' |3=''Emeraldella brutoni'' 100px |4={{Clade sequential |1=''Sidneyia inexpectans'' 100px |2=''Tardisia broedeae'' |3=Cheloniellida 150px }} |5=''Carimersa neptuni'' |6='''''Kodymirus vagans''''' 70px |7=''Eozetetes gemelli'' |8=Aglaspidida 100px }} }}|label1=}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Artiopoda}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1778244}}
Category:Artiopoda Category:Fossils of the Czech Republic Category:Cambrian genus extinctions Category:Monotypic artiopod genera