Haptopoda

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Haptopoda
Fossil range: Upper Carboniferous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Haptopoda
Family: Plesiosironidae
Pocock, 1911
Genus: Plesiosiro
Pockock, 1911
Species: P. madeleyi
Binomial name
Plesiosiro madeleyi
Pockock, 1911

Haptopoda is an extinct arachnid order known exclusively from a few specimens from the Upper Carboniferous of Coseley, Staffordshire, UK. It is monotypic, i.e., has only one species, Plesiosiro madeleyi Pocock, 1911[1]; which was redescribed in 1999[2]. Relationships with other arachnids are obscure. The genus name implies affinities with Opiliones (harvestman), but the most recent study recognises a group named Schizotarsata Shultz, 2007[3] comprising Haptopoda, Amblypygi (whip spiders), Uropygi (whip scorpions) and Schizomida (schizomids). All share the character of a subdivided tarsus (or 'foot').

[edit] Names

The order has also been called Haptopodida, the ending -ida originated when Petrunkevitch (1955)[4] tried to standardize the endings of the arachnid orders, which is unnecessary and unwarranted according to the ICZN.

Plesiosiro means "close to Siro", which is a genus of cyphophthalmid (Cyphophthalmi) harvestman that in overall appearance resembles the reconstructed body plan of the haptopods.

Haptopoda originates from Greek "haptos" (= tangible, subject to the sense of touch) + "pous, podos" (= foot) and refers to its quite long front pair of legs with their subdivided tips which look as though they might have been used to 'feel' their way around in front of the animal.

[edit] Subtaxa included

The haptopods have a single family which has a single genus and a single species:

Plesiosironidae Pocock, 1911

  • Plesiosiro Pocock, 1911
  • Plesiosiro madeleyi Pocock, 1911

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pocock, R.I. 1911. A monograph of the terrestrial Carboniferous Arachnida of Great Britain. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society, London, 84 pp.
  2. ^ Dunlop, J.A. 1999. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 90: 29-47.
  3. ^ Shultz, J.W. 2007. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 150: 221-265.
  4. ^ Petrunkevitch, A. (1955). Arachnida, p. 42-162. In R. C. Moore (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. P, Arthropoda 2. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.