Enaliktidae

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Enaliktidae
Temporal range: Homerian–Emsian
Enalikter aphson.jpg
Virtual reconstructions of Enalikter
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Megacheira (?)
Family: Enaliktidae
Siveter, Briggs, Siveter, Sutton, Legg & Joomun, 2014
Genera [1]

Enaliktidae is an extinct family of elongate arthropods known from the Silurian and Devonian periods, containing two genera, Enalikter and Bundenbachiellus. The taxonomic position of the family is uncertain. In its original description it was attributed to the Megacheira, a group of arthropods otherwise known from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods, due to them possessing uniramous frontal appendages with whip-like extensions, similar to the great appendages of megacheirans belonging to the family Leanchoiliidae like Leanchoilia. [1] However, their placement as megacheirans has been questioned, as they arguably lack any defining apomorphies of that group, as whether the great appendages of megacheirans and the frontal appendages of enaliktids are homologous is unclear. [2]

References

  1. 1 2 Siveter, Derek J.; Briggs, Derek E. G.; Siveter, David J.; Sutton, Mark D.; Legg, David; Joomun, Sarah (2014-03-07). "A Silurian short-great-appendage arthropod". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 281 (1778): 20132986. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2986. PMC   3906945 . PMID   24452026.
  2. Aria, Cédric (October 2022). "The origin and early evolution of arthropods". Biological Reviews. 97 (5): 1786–1809. doi:10.1111/brv.12864. ISSN   1464-7931. PMID   35475316. S2CID   243269510.