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A redescription of the Carboniferous arachnid Plesiosiro madeleyi Pocock, 1911 (Arachnida: Haptopoda)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Jason A. Dunlop
Jason A. Dunlop
Affiliation:
Institut für Systematische Zoologie, Museum für Naturkunde, D-10115 Berlin, Germany
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Abstract

Plesiosiro madeleyi Pocock, 1911, the monotypic representative of the fossil order Haptopoda Pocock, 1911 from the British Middle Coal Measures (Upper Carboniferous, Westphalian B) of Coseley, Staffordshire, is redescribed. A specimen from Sparth Bottoms, Lancashire is not a Plesiosiro and is referred to Arthropoda incertae sedis. Plesiosiro was probably a predator, having tooth-like projections on the femora for prey capture, and shows adaptations of the limbs for crawling in narrow spaces. The uncertain nature of the chelicerae, eyes and respiratory organs makes resolving the phylogenetic position of Plesiosiro difficult, though Haptopoda deserves its status as a separate order. Plesiosiro resembles both cythophthalmid and trogulid opilionids. Its broad prosoma–opisthosoma junction could be interpreted as a synapomorphy for Plesiosiro + Opiliones, but this character is not unique to these orders. Alternatively, Plesiosiro has a large, ventral opisthosomal sclerite. This is interpreted here as a genital operculum, a synapomorphy for Tetrapulmonata, and Plesiosiro is tentatively referred to this clade. Based on the synapomorphies of a divided sternum and subdivided telotarsi a relationship of the form: (Plesiosiro (Amblypygi (Thelyphonida + Schizomida))) is proposed.

Keywords

AmblypygiarthropodCoal MeasuresCoseleyfossilOpilionesphylogenysystematicsThelyphonida
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , 1999 , pp. 29 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1999

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