Fig. 1

Type material of the genus Ilyodes, here proposed as a nomen dubium. a, b Type specimen of Ilyodes elongata Scudder 1890 (USNM PAL 38035), part (a) photographed using low angle incident light, from northwest; counterpart (b) photographed wet under polarised light. I. elongata is an elongate tube lacking any discernable limbs and is clearly not synonymous with Helenodora inopinata. Scale bar = 10 mm. c, d Type specimen of Ilyodes divisa Scudder 1890 (USNM PAL 38034), part (d) and counterpart (c), photographed wet under cross-polarised light. The parts of both specimens were previously coated in a dark ink, that we made no attempt to remove. Ilyodes divisa has a different body plan from H. inopinata, but has too few taxonomically useful characters to differentiate it from other fossil lobopodian taxa. Scale bar = 5 mm. High resolution versions of each photograph provided in additional materials (Additional file 1)