Kazacharthra


Kazacharthra is an extinct order of branchiopod crustaceans that appear to be closely related to the living order Notostraca. Kazacharthrans lived in marshes and ponds in the Upper Triassic of Western China and Mongolia, and in Lower Jurassic Kazakhstan. It is presumed that the kazacharthrids lived much like their living relatives, in that they were opportunistic omnivores that fed on any available food source, from bacterial biofilms to detritus to smaller animals that could be overpowered.
The kazacharthrans are distinguished from tadpole shrimp in that they were much larger, had uniquely shaped, heavily sclerotized, heavily mineralized carapaces, and plate-shaped telsons The carapace, or headshield had a distinctive pattern of tubercles, typically with a central-anteriorly located tubercle that may or may not have housed the compound eyes, and other, distinctively shaped tubercles that may represent attachment sites for mandibles.

Taxonomy

There are seven genera recognized, placed within a single family and order.