Four new specimens of phalangiotarbid (Arachnida: Phalangiotarbida)
from
the Upper
Carboniferous (upper Westphalian A) of Westhoughton, Lancashire, UK, are
referred
to Mesotarbus peteri
sp. nov. An additional Lancashire phalangiotarbid, Phalangiotarbus
subovalis
(Woodward, 1872), from the
Upper Carboniferous (lower/middle Westphalian A) of Burnley, is redescribed
and designated the neotype
of this species. This material allows new interpretations of the opisthosomal
segmentation and respiratory
organs of phalangiotarbids, and a reconstruction of Mesotarbus peteri
is presented.