Nectocarididae

Nectocarididae Temporal range: 520–461  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Nectocaris pteryx after the reconstruction of Smith & Caron (2010)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Clade:	Gnathifera
Family:	† Nectocarididae Conway Morris, 1976
Genera [1]
Nectocaris Conway Morris, 1976 Nectocotis ? Smith, 2019 Nektognathus Vinther et al., 2025

Nectocarididae is a controversial family of animals that superficially resemble squids. Represented by Nectocaris (=Vetustovermis, Petalilium?) from the Cambrian period. ^{[2] [3]} Some researchers claim they are cephalopods, however, this is heavily disputed and most reject this claim. ^{[4] [5]} A 2025 paper describing the new genus Nektognathus found paired jaw elements in both it and Nectocaris which revealed them to be related to chaetognaths (arrow worms), in particular the superficially similar Timorebestia . ^[2]

List of Genera

• Nectocaris
• Nectocotis ? Not diagnostic for the family ^[2]
• Vetustovermis ? Synonym of Nectocaris
• Petalilium ? Synonym of Nectocaris
• Nektognathus

References

1. "Nectocarididae". Paleobiology Database . Retrieved 7 December 2023.
2. Vinther, Jakob; Parry, Luke A.; Lee, Mirinae; Nielsen, Morten Lunde; Oh, Yeongju; Park, Changkun; Kihm, Ji-Hoon; DeVivo, Giacinto; Harper, David A. T.; Nielsen, Arne T.; Park, Tae-Yoon S. (25 July 2025). "A fossilized ventral ganglion reveals a chaetognath affinity for Cambrian nectocaridids". Science Advances. 11 (30). doi:10.1126/sciadv.adu6990.
3. Smith, Martin R. (2019). "An Ordovician nectocaridid hints at an endocochleate origin of Cephalopoda" (PDF). Journal of Paleontology. 94: 64–69. doi:10.1017/jpa.2019.57. S2CID   201208912.
4. Pohle, Alexander; Kröger, Björn; Warnock, Rachel C. M.; King, Andy H.; Evans, David H.; Aubrechtová, Martina; Cichowolski, Marcela; Fang, Xiang; Klug, Christian (December 2022). "Early cephalopod evolution clarified through Bayesian phylogenetic inference". BMC Biology. 20 (1): 88. doi: 10.1186/s12915-022-01284-5 . ISSN   1741-7007. PMC   9008929 . PMID   35421982.
5. Kröger, Björn; Vinther, Jakob; Fuchs, Dirk (August 2011). "Cephalopod origin and evolution: A congruent picture emerging from fossils, development and molecules" . BioEssays. 33 (8): 602–613. doi:10.1002/bies.201100001. PMID   21681989. S2CID   2767810.