| Mixopteridae Temporal range: early Silurian,
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| Fossil of Mixopterus kiaeri exhibited at the Moscow Paleontological Museum. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Order: | †Eurypterida |
| Infraorder: | †Diploperculata |
| Superfamily: | †Carcinosomatoidea |
| Family: | †Mixopteridae Caster & Kjellesvig-Waering, 1955 |
| Type species | |
| †Mixopterus multispinosus Ruedemann, 1921
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| Genera | |
| Synonyms | |
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The Mixopteridae are a family of eurypterids, an extinct group of chelicerate arthropods commonly known as "sea scorpions". The family is one of two families contained in the superfamily Carcinosomatoidea (along with Carcinosomatidae), which in turn is one of the superfamilies classified as part of the suborder Eurypterina.
According to a 2024 paper, this family may be paraphyletic, containing modern scorpions.[1] However, the vast majority of phylogenetic analyses classify scorpions as arachnids, not eurypterids, making this claim unlikely.[2]
- ^ Braddy, Simon J. (14 September 2024). "Carcinosomatoid eurypterid palaeoecology and phylogeny: ichnology and palaeocommunities". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 312 (2): 167–181. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2024/1206.
- ^ Waggoner, B. M. (12 October 1999). "Eurypterida: Morphology". University of California Museum of Paleontology Berkeley. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.