Myriacantherpestes

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Myriacantherpestes
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous
Myriacantherpestes NMNH.jpg
M. hystricosus fossil, National Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Diplopoda
Order:† Euphoberiida
Family:† Euphoberiidae
Genus:† Myriacantherpestes
Burke, 1979
Type species
Eurypterus? (Arthropleura) ferox [1]
Salter 1863
Species

M. bradebirksiBurke 1979
M. clarkorum(Burke 1973)
M. excrescens(Janssen 1940)
M. ferox(Salter 1863)
M. hystricosus(Scudder 1890)
M. inequalis(Scudder 1890)

Contents

Myriacantherpestes is an extinct genus of spiny millipedes from the Pennsylvanian subperiod of the Carboniferous period, known from fossils in Europe and North America.

Description

Two illustrations of M. ferox fossils Euphoberia ferox.jpg
Two illustrations of M. ferox fossils

Like other euphoberiids, Myriacantherpestes had prominent dorsal and lateral spines. Myriacantherpestes differs from other members of Euphoberiidae in part by having much longer lateral spines. [2] Myriacantherpestes had a row of ozopores running down the body near the base of the anterolateral spines, which likely secreted defensive chemicals as in modern millipedes. [3]

Taxonomic history

Several species currently assigned to Myriacantherpestes were formerly in the genera Acantherpestes and Euphoberia . [2] The species M. excrescens was originally described as a fossilized cycad seed. [4]

References

  1. ↑ Woodward, Henry (1887). "On some Spined Myriapods from the Carboniferous Series of England". Geological Magazine. 4 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1017/S0016756800188363.
  2. 1 2 Burke, J.J. (1979). "A new millipede genus, Myriacantherpestes (Diplopoda, Archipolypoda), and Myriacantherpestes bradebirksi, new species, from the English UK Coal Measures". Kirtlandia. 30: 1–24.
  3. ↑ Wilson, Heather M. (2006). "Aggregation behaviour in juvenile millipedes from the upper Carboniferous of Mazon Creek, Illinois". Palaeontology. 49 (4): 733–740.
  4. ↑ Lemay, Stephen; Hannibal, Joseph T. (2002). "Trigonocarpus excrescens Janssen, 1940, a supposed seed from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois, is a milliped (Diplopoda: Euphoberiidae)". Kirtlandia. 53: 37–40.


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