Extended Data Figure 7: A schematic overview of some of the known components the Early Cambrian pelagic food web.

At the base of the food chain were phytoplankton in the form of acritarchs and probably other forms with no apparent fossil record. Diverse mesozooplankton were present as copepod and branchiopod-like crustaceans feeding on phytoplankton, along with vetulicolians, which exhibit a morphology suggesting suspension feeding similar to basal chordates. Larger pelagic predators such as chaetognaths, larger arthropods and potentially also ctenophores preyed upon the mesozooplankton. Tamisiocaris would similarly have fed on the mesozooplankton. The presence of a large nektonic suspension feeder suggests a high abundance of primary producers and mesozooplankton. Other anomalocarids, such as Anomalocaris and Amplectobelua were present as some of the macrophagous apex predators at this time.