| Euproops Temporal range: Carboniferous
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| Reconstruction by Filipiak, P. & Krawczyński, W. 1996 of Euproops rotundatus (Prestwich, 1840) in dorsal view. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Order: | Xiphosura |
| Family: | †Belinuridae |
| Genus: | †Euproops Meek, 1867[1] |
| Synonyms[2] | |
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Euproops is an extinct genus of xiphosuran, related to the modern horseshoe crab. It lived during the Carboniferous Period.
The Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology describes Euproopidae as "small forms with wedge-shaped cardiac lobe bordered by distinct axial furrows, abdominal shield with annulated axis bearing a high boss on last segment." The same source describes Euproops as follows. "Prosoma with flat genal spines and carinate opthamalic spines; cardiopthamalic region with or without intercardiopthamalic area; abdomen with raised pleural ridges that cross flattened rim and are prolonged as marginal spines; annulated axis with knob on 1st and 3rd segments and elevated boss or short spine on hindmost segment; telson long."[3]
Unusually, Euproops may have been semiaquatic, due to being found in terrestrial substrates more often than aquatic ones, as well as the genal and ophthalmic spines of E. danae closely resembling lycopod twigs, alongside E. rotundatus resembling the arachnid Maiocercus. [4]
- ^ Meek, F. B. 1867. Notes on a new genus of fossil Crustacea. Geological Magazine, 4, 320 - 1.
- ^ Dunlop, J. A., Penney, D. & Jekel, D. 2015. A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives. In World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch, version 16.0
- ^ Størmer, L. 1955. Merostomata. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part P Arthropoda 2, Chelicerata, P: 20.
- ^ Fisher, Daniel C. (1979). "EVIDENCE FOR SUBAERIAL ACTIVITY OF EUPROOPS DANAE (MEROSTOMATA, XIPHOSURIDA)". Mazon Creek Fossils: 379–447. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-519650-5.50022-9.