Mycteropoidea

Mycteropoidea
Temporal range: Early Silurian - Late Permian, 442–251.9 Ma
Reconstruction of Hibbertopterus, a hibbertopterid.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Order: †Eurypterida
Suborder: †Stylonurina
Superfamily: †Mycteropoidea
Cope, 1886
Families
Synonyms
  • Hibbertopteroidea Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959

Mycteropoidea is an extinct superfamily of eurypterids, an extinct group of chelicerate arthropods commonly known as "sea scorpions". It is one of four superfamilies classified as part of the suborder Stylonurina. Mycteropoids have been recovered from Europe, Russia, South America and South Africa. Mycteropoid specimens are often fragmentary, making it difficult to establish relationships between the included taxa. Only two mycteropoid taxa are known from reasonable complete remains, Hibbertopterus scouleri and H. wittebergensis.[1]

Mycteropoids were large bizarre Eurypterids found from the Early Silurian to the end of the Permian period.[2] They were sweep feeders, inhabiting freshwater swamps and rivers, feeding by raking through the soft sediment with blades on their anterior appendages to capture small invertebrates.[3] Their morphology was so unusual that they have been thought to be an order separate to Eurypterida.[4] Recent work however confirms them to be derived members of the suborder Stylonurina, with the genus Drepanopterus being a basal member of their superfamily.[5]

The mycteropoids are important within eurypterid evolutionary history as the last group of eurypterids to experience a significant radiation in diversity at the genus level (during the Late Devonian and Carboniferous) as well as being the latest known surviving members of the group, going extinct during the Permian-Triassic extinction event.[5]

  1. ^ Jeram, Andrew J.; Selden, Paul A. (1993/01). "Eurypterids from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 84 (3-4): 301–308. doi:10.1017/S0263593300006118. ISSN 1755-6929.
  2. ^ Tetlie, O E (2007). "Distribution and dispersal history of Eurypterida (Chelicerata)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 252 (3–4): 557–574. Bibcode:2007PPP...252..557T. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.05.011.
  3. ^ Selden, P.A., Corronca, J.A. & Hünicken, M.A (2005). "The true identity of the supposed giant fossil spider Megarachne". Biology Letters. 1 (1): 44–48. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2004.0272. PMC 1629066. PMID 17148124.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Tollerton, V P (1989). "Morphology, Taxonomy, and Classification of the Order Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843". Journal of Paleontology. 63 (5): 642–657. Bibcode:1989JPal...63..642T. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.726.6218. doi:10.1017/S0022336000041275. S2CID 46953627.
  5. ^ a b James C. Lamsdell, Simon J. Braddy & O. Erik Tetlie (2010). "The systematics and phylogeny of the Stylonurina (Arthropoda: Chelicerata: Eurypterida)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 8 (1): 49–61. Bibcode:2010JSPal...8...49L. doi:10.1080/14772011003603564. S2CID 85398946.