Maiocercus

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Maiocercus
Temporal range: 310  Ma
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Maiocercus celticus.jpg
Fossil of Maiocercus celticus located in Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, Brussels, Belgium.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Trigonotarbida
Family: Anthracomartidae
Genus: Maiocercus
Pocock, 1902
Species:
M. celticus
Binomial name
Maiocercus celticus
(Pocock, 1902)
Synonyms
  • Brachypyge celticaPocock, 1902
  • Maiocercus orbicularisGill, 1911

Maiocercus celticus is a species of early trigonotarbid arachnid from the Upper Carboniferous of Westhoughton, Lancashire, UK. The species was first described in 1902, with a "new species" being described in 1911 (M. orbicularis) which has been proven as being a junior synonym of M. celticus. [1] [2]

M. celticus is the type species of the genus Maiocercus. [3]

Artist's reconstruction of M. celticus, showing 5 rows of dorsal plates 20201202 Maiocercus celticus.png
Artist's reconstruction of M. celticus, showing 5 rows of dorsal plates

Originally zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock compared M. celticus to Brachypyge, with later evidence showing that Brachypyge had "opisthosoma which were much longer than wide; with the pleural laminæ of the second and third pleura-bearing terga being inclined slightly backwards" (Brachypyge) with Maiocercus having the "opisthosoma much wider than long; the pleural laminæ of the first, second, third, and fourth sterna being inclined slightly forwards". [4]

The original drawing which showed Maiocercus described a pitting on the underside of the slightly forwarded laminæ, with a non-uniform concavity on the outer margins of them. The concavity is most well-marked in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth somites, with the opposite happening on the second, third and fourth somites. [5]

See also

References

  1. Dunlop, Jason A.; Horrocks, Carl A. (1996). "A new specimen of the Carboniferous trigonotarbid arachnid Maiocercus celticus (Pocock 1902) from Lancashire, UK" . Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 51: 23–31. doi:10.1144/pygs.51.1.23.
  2. Craven, D. J.; Dunlop, J. A. (2008). "The holotype of the trigonotarbid arachnid Maiocercus orbicularis Gill, 1911, a junior synonym of M. Celticus (Pocock, 1902)". Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 57: 61–62. doi:10.1144/pygs.57.1.61.
  3. Yorkshire Geological Society. Yorkshire Geological Society. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2022 via Google Books.
  4. Gill, E. Leonard (1911). "II.—A Carboniferous Arachnid from Lancashire". Geological Magazine. 8 (9): 395–398. Bibcode:1911GeoM....8..395G. doi:10.1017/S0016756800116383. S2CID   129301901.
  5. Geological Magazine. Cambridge University Press. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2022 via Google Books.