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Biomechanical approaches to eurypterid cuticles and chelicerate exoskeletons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

John E. Dalingwater
John E. Dalingwater
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, The University, Manchester M13 9PL, England.
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Abstract

Microstructural features of eurypterid cuticles are analysed from a biomechanical viewpoint: some fibrous elements are now considered to resemble the macrofibres of extant arthropod cuticles; possible preferred orientation zones in Mycterops are related to directional stresses; pore canals are not viewed as acting as crack-stoppers but laminae (sensu Dennell 1978) may have served this function. Could some eurypterids have walked on land?—this problem is approached by using extant Limulus as a model. It leads on to the use of scaling exponents to determine the limits that possessing an exoskeleton places on the size of land arthropods: moulting may be the limiting factor. Possible critical factors limiting the size of aquatic arthropods are discussed briefly.

Keywords

AraneidaArthropodaCarboniferousCrustacea.
Type
Structure and function
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 76 , Issue 2-3: Fossil Anthropods as Living Animals , 1985 , pp. 359 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1985

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