Palaeothele
Palaeothele is an extinct genus of mesothele spiders, with only one known species Palaeothele montceauensis.[1] Two fossils were found at Montceau-les-Mines, France, in ironstone concretion deposits of Late Carboniferous (Stephanian) age, about 304 to 299 million years ago.[2]
Palaeothele | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
Class: | Arachnida |
Order: | Araneae |
Suborder: | Mesothelae |
Genus: | †Palaeothele |
Species: | †P. montceauensis |
Binomial name | |
†Palaeothele montceauensis (Selden, 1996)[1] | |
Taxonomy
The genus was first named as Eothele by Paul A. Selden in 1996. However, this name had already been used for a Cambrian brachiopod, so in 2000, Selden proposed the replacement name Palaeothele. Palaeothele is derived from the Greek παλαιός, "ancient", and θηλή, "nipple" – a common ending for spider names, referring to their spinnerets.[3] The species name montceauensis refers to the location where the fossils were found.[2]
Phylogeny
In 1996, Selden suggested the relationships shown in the cladogram below. (At the time, Attercopus was thought to be a spider; it is now considered to belong to a related but separate group, the Uraraneida.) Palaeothele is shown as sister to the modern genus Heptathela since they both have "tracheal sacs", structures adjacent to the posterior book lungs.[2]
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References
- Dunlop, J.A.; Penney, D.; Jekel, D. (2016), "A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives, version 16.5" (PDF), World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-03-31
- Selden, P.A. (1996), "First fossil mesothele spider from the Carboniferous of France" (PDF), Revue suisse de Zoologie, hors série: 585–596, retrieved 2016-03-18
- Selden, P.A. (2000), "Palaeothele, replacement name for the fossil mesothele spider Eothele non Rowell" (PDF), Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society, 11 (292), retrieved 2016-03-31