Lagonomegopidae

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Lagonomegopidae
Temporal range: Albian–Campanian
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Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Superfamily: Palpimanoidea
Family: Lagonomegopidae
Eskov and Wunderlich 1995
Genera

See text

Lagonomegopidae is an extinct family of spiders known from the Cretaceous period. Members of the family are distinguished by a large pair of eyes, positioned on the anterolateral flanks of the carapace, with the rest of the eyes being small. They have generally been considered members of Palpimanoidea, but this has recently been questioned. [1] Members of the family are known from the late Early Cretaceous (Albian) to near the end of the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Eurasia, North America and the Middle East, which was then attached to Africa as part of Gondwana. They are generally assumed to have been free living hunters as opposed to web builders. [1]

Contents

Diagnosis

Per Guo and Selden, 2019 [1]

Chelicera with several peg teeth on promargin; true teeth present or absent on retromargin. Carapace with a pair of large posterior median eyes situated on anterolateral corner, other eyes tiny. Endites subtriangular, directed across the labium, almost meeting at the midline. Trichobothria present on leg tibia and metatarsus. Three tarsal claws, unpaired claw hook-like. Six spinnerets. Female palpal tarsi lacking a claw.

For the meaning of technical words, refer to the Glossary of spider terms.

Relationships

A phylogenetic analysis conducted in 2021 found that Lagonomegopidae formed the sister group to extant Palpimanoidea. [2]

Paleobiology

Reconstruction of female lagonomegopid with egg sac Lagonomegopidae maternal care.gif
Reconstruction of female lagonomegopid with egg sac

Langonomegopids preserved with associated egg sacs and spiderlings indicate that females likely laid egg sacs in nests or hollows, and the young may have lived with the mother for some time after hatching. [3]

Genera

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Guo, Xiangbo; Selden, Paul A.; Shih, Chungkun; Ren, Dong (February 2020). "Two new lagonomegopid spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from the mid-Cretaceous of Northern Myanmar, with comments on the superfamilial placement of Lagonomegopidae" . Cretaceous Research. 106 104257. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104257. S2CID   204270349.
  2. 1 2 3 Guo, Xiangbo; Selden, Paul A; Ren, Dong (2021-06-16). "New specimens from Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber illuminate the phylogenetic placement of Lagonomegopidae (Arachnida: Araneae)" . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 195 (2): 399–416. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab027. ISSN   0024-4082.
  3. Guo, Xiangbo; Selden, Paul A.; Ren, Dong (2021-09-29). "Maternal care in Mid-Cretaceous lagonomegopid spiders". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1959) 20211279. doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1279. ISSN   0962-8452. PMC   8441120 . PMID   34521253.
  4. 1 2 3 4 J. Wunderlich. 2017. New and rare fossil spiders (Araneae) in mid Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Burma), including the description of new extinct families of the suborders Mesothelae and Opisthothelae, as well as notes on the taxonomy, the evolution and the biogeography of the Mesothelae. Ten Papers on Fossil and Extant Spiders (Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie10:72-279
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 J. Wunderlich. 2012. On the fossil spider (Araneae) fauna in Cretaeous ambers, with descriptions of new taxa from Myanmar (Burma) and Jordan, and on the relationships of the superfamily Leptonetoidea. Beiträge zur Araneologie7:157-232
  6. Penney, D. (2006-01-12). "The oldest lagonomegopid spider, a new species in Lower Cretaceous amber from Álava, Spain". Geologica Acta. 4 (3): 377–382. doi:10.1344/105.000000351. ISSN   1696-5728.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 J. Wunderlich. 2015. On the evolution and the classification of spiders, the Mesozoic spider faunas, and descriptions of new Cretaceous taxa mainly in amber from Myanmar (Burma) (Arachnida: Araneae). Mesozoic Spiders (Araneae): Ancient Spider Faunas and Spider Evolution, Beiträge zur Araneologie9:21-408
  8. 1 2 D. Penney. 2004. Cretaceous Canadian amber spider and the palpimanoidean nature of lagonomegopids. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica49:579-584
  9. 1 2 3 4 Park, Tae-Yoon S.; Nam, Kye-Soo; Selden, Paul A. (2019-08-03). "A diverse new spider (Araneae) fauna from the Jinju Formation, Cretaceous (Albian) of Korea" . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 17 (15): 1271–1297. doi:10.1080/14772019.2018.1525441. ISSN   1477-2019. S2CID   92137182.
  10. 1 2 K. Y. Eskov and J. Wunderlich. 1995. On the spiders from Taimyr ambers, Siberia, with the description of a new family and with general notes on the spiders from the Cretaceous resins (Arachnida: Araneae). Beiträge zur Araneologie4:95-107
  11. D. Penney. 2005. The fossil spider family Lagonomegopidae. The Journal of Arachnology33:439-444
  12. 1 2 3 Fuente, Ricardo Pérez-de la; Saupe, Erin E.; Selden, Paul A. (2013-02-06). "New lagonomegopid spiders (Araneae: †Lagonomegopidae) from Early Cretaceous Spanish amber" . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology: 1–23. doi:10.1080/14772019.2012.725679. ISSN   1477-2019. S2CID   55375767.
  13. H. F. Kaddumi. 2007. Amber of Jordan. The Oldest Prehistoric Insects in Fossilized Resin 1-298