Editing Lobopodia (section)

=== Armoured lobopodians ===

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| image1 = MICRODICTYON SINICUM.jpg
| caption1 = Fossil of ''[[Microdictyon]] sinicum'', showing pairs of sclerite and trace of trunk and lobopods.
| image2 = 20210429 Diania cactiformis diagrammatic reconstruction.png
| caption2 = ''[[Diania]] cactiformis'', an armoured lobopodian covered by myriad spines.
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Armoured lobopodians referred to [[xenusiid]] lobopodians which bore repeated sclerites such as spine or plates on their trunk (e.g. ''[[Hallucigenia]]'', ''[[Microdictyon]]'', ''[[Luolishania]]'') or lobopods (e.g. ''[[Diania]]''). In contrast, lobopodians without sclerites may be referred to as "unarmoured lobopodians".<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":13" /> Function of the sclerites were interpreted as protective armor and/or muscle attachment points.<ref name=":33" /><ref name="Budd2001" /><ref name=":0" /> In some cases, only the disarticulated sclerites of the animal were preserved, which represented as component of [[small shelly fossils]] (SSF).<ref name=":33" /><ref name=":15" /> Armoured lobopodians were suggest to be onychophoran-related and may even represent a [[clade]] in some previous studies,<ref name="Budd2001" /> but their phylogenetic positions in later studies are controversial. ([[#As stem-group onychophorans|see text]])

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