| Helenodora Temporal range: Pennsylvanian
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| Fossil | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Stem group: | Onychophora |
| Genus: | †Helenodora Thompson and Jones, 1980 |
| Species: | †H. inopinata
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| Binomial name | |
| †Helenodora inopinata Thompson and Jones, 1980[1]
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Helenodora is an extinct basal onychophoran or lobopodian[2] genus known from the Carboniferous Carbondale Formation of Illinois.[3][2] The only known species described is H. inopinata. The ecology of this animal is not well known, but it is thought that it may have lived on land and/or underwater.[2]
Helenodora was suggested by some authors to be a junior synonym of Ilyodes Scudder 1890, a fossil genus that includes two species and was originally described as a myriapod. A re-examination of the type material of Helenodora inopinata and the Ilyodes species found significant differences between them. Additionally, neither species of Ilyodes were adequately diagnosed, so they and the genus are all considered nomina dubia.[2]
- ^ Thompson, I.; Jones, D. S. (May 1980). "A Possible Onychophoran from the Middle Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek Beds of Northern Illinois" (PDF). Journal of Paleontology. 54 (3): 588–596. Bibcode:1974JPal...48..524M. JSTOR 1304204.
- ^ a b c d Murdock, D. J. E.; Gabbott, S. E.; Purnell, M. A. (2016). "The impact of taphonomic data on phylogenetic resolution: Helenodora inopinata (Carboniferous, Mazon Creek Lagerstätte) and the onychophoran stem lineage". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 16 (19): 19. Bibcode:2016BMCEE..16...19M. doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0582-7. PMC 4722706. PMID 26801389.
- ^ Poinar, G. (6 September 1996). "Fossil Velvet Worms in Baltic and Dominican Amber: Onychophoran Evolution and Biogeography". Science. 273 (5280): 1370–1371. Bibcode:1996Sci...273.1370P. doi:10.1126/science.273.5280.1370. S2CID 85373762.