Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-07T16:56:31.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The first documentation of an Ordovician eurypterid (Chelicerata) from China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2023

Han Wang Open the ORCID record for Han Wang [Opens in a new window] ,
Simon J. Braddy Open the ORCID record for Simon J. Braddy [Opens in a new window] ,
Joseph Botting Open the ORCID record for Joseph Botting [Opens in a new window]  and
Yuandong Zhang Open the ORCID record for Yuandong Zhang [Opens in a new window]
Han Wang*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Simon J. Braddy
Affiliation:
Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK
Joseph Botting
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3LP, UK
Yuandong Zhang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An early form of eurypterids (Chelicerata), Archopterus anjiensis n. gen. n. sp., is described from the uppermost Ordovician Wenchang Formation of Anji County, Zhejiang Province, South China. It is the earliest record of eurypterids in China and likely the oldest representative of the Adelophthalmidae. The species, represented by a single specimen, is diagnosed by a ventrally preserved prosoma with a parabolic carapace, Hughmilleria-type prosomal appendages, a short vase-shaped metastoma, and a three-segmented type A (female) genital appendage. The specimen is preserved, together with diverse sponges, graptolites and occasional nautiloids, in a 10 m thick shale of marine deep-water setting. This finding extends the stratigraphic range of adelophthalmids from the previously recorded early Silurian into the Late Ordovician (some 10 million years older) and supports an earlier cryptic phase of eurypterid evolution in Gondwana.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/a2d090e5-1a15-40b6-8e2a-dda45b01e94d

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 97 , Issue 3 , May 2023 , pp. 606 - 611
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Paleontological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Botting, J.P., Muir, L.A., Zhang, Y.-D., Ma, X., Ma, J.-Y., Wang, L.-W., Zhang, J.-F., Song, Y.-Y., and Fang, X., 2017, Flourishing sponge-based ecosystems after the end-Ordovician mass extinction: Current Biology, v. 27, p. 556–562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Botting, J.P., Muir, L.A., Wang, W.-H., Qie, W.-K., Tan, J.-Q., Zhang, L.-N., and Zhang, Y.-D., 2018, Sponge-dominated offshore benthic ecosystems across South China in the aftermath of the end-Ordovician mass extinction: Gondwana Research, v. 61, p. 150–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botting, J.P., Janussen, D., Zhang, Y.-D., and Muir, L. A., 2020, Exceptional preservation of two new early rossellid sponges: the dominant species in the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) Anji Biota of China: Journal of the Geological Society, v. 177, p. 1025–1038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botting, J.P., Janussen, D., Muir, L.A., Dohrmann, M., Ma, J.-Y., and Zhang, Y.-D., 2022, Extraordinarily early Venus’ flower basket sponges (Hexactinellida, Euplectellidae) from the uppermost Ordovician Anji Biota, China: Palaeontology, v. 65, n. e12592, https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braddy, S.J., and Dunlop, J.A., 1997, The functional morphology of mating in the Silurian eurypterid, Baltoeurypterus tetragonophthalmus (Fischer, 1839): The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 121, p. 435–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braddy, S.J., Aldridge, R.J., and Theron, J.N., 1995, A new eurypterid from the Late Ordovician Table Mountain Group, South Africa: Palaeontology, v. 38, p. 563–581.Google Scholar
Braddy, S.J., Tollerton, V.P. Jr., Racheboeuf, P.P., and Schallreuter, R., 2004, Eurypterids, phyllocarids and ostracodes, in Webby, B.D., Droser, M.L., and Paris, F., eds., The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event: New York, Columbia University Press, p. 255–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braddy, S.J., Lerner, A.J., and Lucas, S.G., 2021, A new specimen of Adelophthalmus luceroensis (Eurypterida: Chelicerata) from the late Carboniferous (middle Missourian; Kasimovian) Kinney Quarry Lagerstätte of New Mexico: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte, v. 302, p. 105–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burmeister, H., 1843, Die Organisation der Trilobiten, aus ihren lebenden Verwandten entwickelt; nebst systematische Uebersicht aller Seitherbeschriebenen Arten: Berlin, Georg Reimer, 147 p.Google Scholar
Caster, K.E., and Kjellesvig-Waering, E.N., 1955, Marsupipterus, an unusual eurypterid from the Downtonian of England: Journal of Paleontology, v. 29, p. 1040–1041.Google Scholar
Caster, K.E., and Kjellesvig-Waering, E.N., 1964, Upper Ordovician eurypterids of Ohio: Palaeontographica Americana, v. 4, p. 301–358.Google Scholar
Chang, A.-C., 1957, On the discovery of the Wenlockian Eurypterus-fauna from south China: Acta Paleontologica Sinica, v. 5, p. 446–450. [in Chinese]Google Scholar
Chernyshev, B.I., 1948, New representative of Merostomata from the lower Carboniferous: State of Kiev, Geological Collections, v. 2, p. 119–130.Google Scholar
Grabau, A.W., 1920, A new species of Eurypterus from the Permian of China: Bulletin of the Geological Survey of China, v. 2, p. 61–67.Google Scholar
Heymons, R., 1901, Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Scolopender: Zoologica, v. 13, p. 244.Google Scholar
Jordan, H., and Meyer, H., 1854, Ueber die Crustaceen der Steinkohlenformation von Saarbrücken: Palaeontographica, v. 4, p. 1–15.Google Scholar
Kamenz, C., Staude, A., and Dunlop, J.A., 2011, Sperm carriers in Silurian sea scorpions: Naturwissenschaften, v. 98, p. 889–896.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kiaer, J., 1911, A new Downtonian fauna in the sandstone series of the Kristiania area: a preliminary report: Vidensk.-selsk. Skrifter,Kristiania, v. 1911, no. 7, p. 1–22.Google Scholar
Kjellesvig-Waering, E.N., 1951, Downtonian (Silurian) Eurypterida from Perton, near Stoke Edith, Herefordshire: Geological Magazine, v. 88, p. 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kjellesvig-Waering, E.N., 1961, The Silurian Eurypterida of the Welsh Borderland: Journal of Paleontology, v. 35, p. 251–256.Google Scholar
Kjellesvig-Waering, E.N., and Leutze, W.P., 1966, Eurypterida from the Silurian of West Virginia: Journal of Paleontology, v. 40, p. 1109–1122.Google Scholar
Lamsdell, J.C., and Braddy, S.J., 2010, Cope's Rule and Romer's theory: patterns of diversity and gigantism in eurypterids and Palaeozoic vertebrates: Biology Letters, v. 6, p. 265–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamsdell, J.C., Hoşgör, I., and Selden, P.A., 2013, A new Ordovician eurypterid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from southeast Turkey: evidence for a cryptic Ordovician record of Eurypterida: Gondwana Research, v. 23, p. 354–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamsdell, J.C., Briggs, D.E.G., Liu, H.-P., Witzke, B.J., and McKay, R.M., 2015, The oldest described eurypterid: a giant Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) megalograptid from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa: BMC Evolutionary Biology, v. 15, n. 169, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-015-0443-9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ma, Z.-H., Selden, P.A., Lamsdell, J.C., Zhang, T.-S., Chen, J.-W., and Zhang, X., 2022, Two new eurypterids (Arthropoda, Chelicerata) from the upper Silurian Yulongsi Formation of south-west China: Journal of Paleontology, v. 96, p. 1078–1086.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, Z.-H., Zhang, T.-S., Lamsdell, J.C., Chen, J.-W., Selden, P.A., and Chen, L.-X., 2023, Early Devonian (Lochkovian) eurypterids from the Yunnan province of southwest China: Geological Magazine, v. 160, p. 172–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, S.A., 1874, Notes and descriptions of Cincinnatian Group fossils: Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science, v. 1, p. 343–351.Google Scholar
Muir, L.A., Zhang, Y.-D., Botting, J.P., and Ma, X., 2020, Avitograptus species (Graptolithina) from the Hirnantian (uppermost Ordovician) Anji Biota of South China and the evolution of Akidograptus and Parakidograptus: Journal of Paleontology, v. 94, p. 955–965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muir, L.A., Zhang, Y.-D., Botting, J.P., and Ma, X., 2021, Convergent evolution in planktic graptolites: independent origin of the dicranograptid morphology in the Hirnantian (latest Ordovician): Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, v. 45, p. 395–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plotnick, R.E., 1999, Habitat of Llandoverian–Lochkovian eurypterids, in Boucot, A. J., and Lawson, J.D., eds., Paleocommunities: A Case Study from the Silurian and Lower Devonian, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 106–131.Google Scholar
Poschmann, M., 2020, A new sea scorpion (Arthropoda, Eurypterida) from the Early Devonian of Willwerath (Rhineland–Palatinate, SW Germany): Paläontologische Zeitschrift, v. 95, p. 17–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shuler, E.W., 1915, A new Ordovician eurypterid: American Journal of Science, ser. 4, v. 39, p. 551–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Størmer, L., 1951, A new eurypterid from the Ordovician of Montgomeryshire, Wales: Geological Magazine, v. 88, p. 409–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Størmer, L., 1955, Merostomata, in Moore, R.C., ed, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part P, Arthropoda 2, Chelicerata: Lawrence, Kansas, University of Kansas Press, p. 4–41.Google Scholar
Størmer, L., 1973, Arthropods from the Lower Devonian (lower Emsian) of Alken an der Mosel, Germany. Part 3: Eurypterida, Hughmilleridae: Senckenbergiana Lethaea, v. 54, p. 119–205.Google Scholar
Stott, C.A., Tetlie, O.E., Braddy, S.J., Nowlan, G.S., Glasser, P.M., and Devereux, M.G., 2005, A new eurypterid (Chelicerata) from the uppermost Ordovician of Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada: Journal of Paleontology, v. 79, p. 1166–1174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tetlie, O.E., 2007, Distribution and dispersal history of Eurypterida (Chelicerata): Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 252, p. 557–574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tetlie, O.E., and Poschmann, M., 2008, Phylogeny and palaeoecology of the Adelophthalmoidea (Arthropoda; Chelicerata; Eurypterida): Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, v. 6, p. 237–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tetlie, O.E., Selden, P.A., and Ren, D., 2007, A new Silurian eurypterid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from China: Palaeontology, v. 50, p. 619–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tollerton, V.P. Jr., 1989, Morphology, taxonomy, and classification of the order Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843: Journal of Paleontology, v. 63, p. 642–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tollerton, V.P. Jr., 2004, Summary of a revision of New York State Ordovician eurypterids: implications for eurypterid palaeoecology, diversity and evolution: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, v. 94, p. 235–242.Google Scholar
Walcott, C.D., 1882, Description of a new genus of the order Eurypterida from the Utica Slate: American Journal of Science, ser. 3, v. 23, p. 213–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, B., and Gai, Z.-K., 2014, A sea scorpion claw from the Lower Devonian of China (Chelicerata: Eurypterida): Alcheringa, v. 38, p. 296–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, G.-X., Geng, L.-Y., Xiao, Y.-H., and Zhu, Z.-B, 1988, Geological age and depositional feature of the upper Xiushan Formation and Xiaoxiyu Formation of west Hunan: Journal of Stratigraphy, v. 12, p. 216–225. [in Chinese]Google Scholar
Wang, H., Dunlop, J., Gai, Z.-K., Lei, X.-J., Jarzembowski, E.A., and Wang, B., 2021, First mixopterid eurypterids (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from the lower Silurian of south China: Science Bulletin, v. 66, p. 2277–2280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, J.-S., Liu, L., Xue, J.-Z., Lamsdell, J.C., and Selden, P.A., 2022, A new genus and species of eurypterid (Chelicerata, Eurypterida) from the Lower Devonian Xiaxishancun Formation of Yunnan, southwestern China: Geobios, v. 75, p. 53–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wills, L.J., 1964, The ventral anatomy of the upper Carboniferous eurypterid Anthraconectes Meek and Worthen: Palaeontology, v. 7, p. 474–507.Google Scholar
Wu, X.-J., Botting, J.P., Zhang, Y.-D., Muir, L.A., and Ma, J.-Y., 2022, Taphonomy of exceptional sponge preservation in the Hirnantian Anji Biota, China: Journal of the Geological Society, v. 179, n. jgs2021–112, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2021-112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar