Oestokerkus is an extinct genus of Cambrian megacheiran arthropod known from the Emu Bay Shale of Kangaroo Island, Australia. It belongs to the family Leanchoiliidae. It had a large head shield that was more than a third of the trunk's length, as well as a large pair of eyes. The great appendages have long flagellae projecting from them. The head shield probably had two pairs of cephalic appendages. The trunk has 11 segments. The exopods of the biramous limbs are fringed with long setae.[1] The body ended with a telson, which was probably dorsally flattened.[2]
| Oestokerkus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Life restoration based on original description | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | †Megacheira |
| Order: | †Leanchoilida |
| Family: | †Leanchoiliidae |
| Genus: | †Oestokerkus Edgecombe et al., 2011 |
| Species: | †O. megacholix
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| Binomial name | |
| †Oestokerkus megacholix Edgecombe et al., 2011
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References
edit- ^ Edgecombe, Gregory D.; García-Bellido, Diego C.; Paterson, John R. (2011). "A New Leanchoiliid Megacheiran Arthropod from the Lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale, South Australia". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56 (2): 385–400. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0080. hdl:10261/61352. ISSN 0567-7920.
- ^ He, Yu-Yang; Cong, Pei-Yun; Liu, Yu; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Hou, Xian-Guang (2017-10-02). "Telson morphology of Leanchoiliidae (Arthropoda: Megacheira) highlighted by a new Leanchoilia from the Cambrian Chengjiang biota". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 41 (4): 581–589. doi:10.1080/03115518.2017.1320425. ISSN 0311-5518. S2CID 90593555.