Waeringopteridae

Waeringopteridae
Temporal range: Late Ordovician - Early Devonian, 449–407 Ma
Orcanopterus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Order: †Eurypterida
Suborder: †Eurypterina
Infraorder: †Diploperculata
Superfamily: †Waeringopteroidea
Tetlie, 2004
Not formally published
Family: †Waeringopteridae
Tetlie, 2004
Not formally published
Type species
†Waeringopterus cumberlandicus
Swartz, 1923
Genera
Synonyms
  • Orcanopteridae Tetlie, 2004
    Not formally published

Waeringopteridae is a family of eurypterids, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. The Waeringopteridae is the only family classified as part of the superfamily Waeringopteroidea, which in turn is classified within the infraorder Diploperculata in the suborder Eurypterina. The earliest known member of the group, Orcanopterus, has been recovered from deposits of Katian (Late Ordovician) age and the latest known surviving member, Grossopterus, has been recovered from deposits of Siegenian (Early Devonian) age. The name Waeringopteridae is derived from the type genus Waeringopterus, which is named in honor of eurypterid researcher Erik N. Kjellesvig-Waering.

Waeringopterid fossils are very rare and the family only contains five known species classified in three different genera (Waeringopterus, Orcanopterus and Grossopterus). Four of these species are from the ancient continent of Laurentia, with the only species known from outside of it being a Devonian species recovered from Germany. It is thus considered likely that the group originated in Laurentia before spreading to Germany during the Devonian. As the fossil record of the group is extremely poor, little is known of the morphology of the taxa within the group.

Although confirmed by phylogenetic analyses as monophyletic, and routinely used within eurypterid taxonomy,[1][2][3] "Waeringopteroidea" and "Waeringopteridae" are as of yet not formally published clades, the names instead deriving from a 2004 thesis by O. Erik Tetlie. Some researchers refer to the group more formally as the "waeringopteroid clade" rather than as the superfamily "Waeringopteroidea", pending a formal publication.[4]

  1. ^ O. Erik Tetlie (2007). "Distribution and dispersal history of Eurypterida (Chelicerata)" (PDF). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 252 (3–4): 557–574. Bibcode:2007PPP...252..557T. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.05.011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18.
  2. ^ 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 http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/resources/fossils/Fossils16.0.pdf (PDF).
  3. ^ Tetlie, O. Erik; Cuggy, Michael B. (2007-01-01). "Phylogeny of the basal swimming eurypterids (Chelicerata; Eurypterida; Eurypterina)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 5 (3): 345–356. Bibcode:2007JSPal...5..345T. doi:10.1017/S1477201907002131. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 88413267.
  4. ^ Lamsdell, James; Hoşgör, Izzet; Selden, Paul (2013-01-31). "A new Ordovician eurypterid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from southeast Turkey: Evidence for a cryptic Ordovician record of Eurypterida". Gondwana Research. 23 (1): 354–366. Bibcode:2013GondR..23..354L. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2012.04.006.