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Synziphosurines (Xiphosura: Chelicerata) from the Silurian of Iowa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Rachel A. Moore
Affiliation:
1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK
Derek E. G. Briggs
Affiliation:
2Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8109, USA
Simon J. Braddy
Affiliation:
1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK
Jeffrey W. Shultz
Affiliation:
3Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

Abstract

A new genus and species of synziphosurine (Chelicerata) is described from the Silurian (Wenlock) Scotch Grove Formation Konservat-Lagerstätte in Clinton County, Iowa. Camanchia grovensis n. gen. n. sp. is characterized by a sub-triangular carapace, ten opisthosomal segments divided into a preabdomen of seven and a postabdomen of three, and a tuberculate ornament on the carapace and pleural margins. A single new specimen from the same location is assigned to Venustulus waukeshaensis, originally described from the Late Llandovery Waukesha Konservat-Lagerstätte of Wisconsin. A comparison of the musculature of C. grovensis with that of living Limulus polyphemus and the Jurassic Mesolimulus walchi from Nusplingen, Germany shows that it is much simpler, consistent with the status of synziphosurines as stem xiphosurids.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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