''Fengzhengia'' is an extinct genus of arthropod known from a single species, ''Fengzhengia mamingae'' from the

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

aged Chengjiang Biota of

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

, China. It is thought to be a basal arthropod, as one of the most basal members of

Deuteropoda Deuteropoda or "upper stem group arthropods" is a proposed clade of arthropods whose members are distinguished by an anatomical reorganization of the head region, namely the appearance of a differentiated first appendage pair (the ' deutocerebr ...

. Like other basal deuteropods such as ''

Kylinxia ''Kylinxia'' is a genus of extinct arthropod described in 2020. It was described from six specimens discovered in Yu'anshan Formation (Maotianshan Shales) in southern China. The specimens are assigned to one species ''Kylinxia zhangi.'' Dated to ...

'', ''Fengzhengia'' has an upward curling pair of "frontal appendages", contrasting with the downward curving pair of frontal appendages possessed by

radiodonts Radiodonta is an extinct order of stem-group arthropods that was successful worldwide during the Cambrian period. They may be referred to as radiodonts, radiodontans, radiodontids, anomalocarids, or anomalocaridids, although the last two origi ...

. The head has a pair of stalked eyes. The trunk had 15

tergites A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'mar ...

the first nine of which had upward facing spines, with the trunk terminating with a tail fan. The trunk seemingly had pairs of

biramous The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, plu ...

limbs, with paddle-shaped

exopod The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, plur ...

s. It is thought to have been nektobenthic (swimming just above the sediment), and either a scavenger or a predator.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q115801577 Cambrian arthropods Fossils of China Fossil taxa described in 2022 Prehistoric arthropod genera