Aglaspidida

Aglaspidida
Temporal range: Cambrian
Aglaspis spinifer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Stem-group: Chelicerata
Order: Aglaspidida
Walcott, 1911
Families
  • Aglaspididae
  • Lemoneitidae
  • Beckwithiidae
  • ?Strabopidae

The Aglaspida, more correctly termed Aglaspidida, were a group of small, horseshoe crab-like arthropods that were once regarded as basal or ancestral horseshoe crabs. However they cannot be accommodated within the chelicerates.[1] Now, though, they are regarded as a distinct group, possibly being close to the trilobites. The older idea that they link trilobites with Chelicerata has fallen out of favour.

Restoration of Strabops thacheri, from when it was thought to be a eurypterid

Aglaspid fossils are found throughout the world, including North America (upper Mississippi valley, Missouri and Utah), Europe, and Australia.

As of 1997, Hou & Bergström split off Strabopidae (which were once regarded as being primitive eurypterids), including the genera Strabops, Paleomerus, Parapaleomerus, and Neostrabops, as its own distinct order/taxon, "Strabopida."

List of Genera

References

  1. ↑ Ortega-Hernández, J.; Braddy, S. J.; Jago, J. B.; Baillie, P. W. (2010). "A new aglaspidid arthropod from the Upper Cambrian of Tasmania". Palaeontology 53 (5): 1065–1076. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00974.x.

External links