Gorgonophontes is an extinct genus of mantis shrimp that lived during the late Carboniferous period in what is now the United States and Belgium. It contains two named species. The type species, G. peleron, was described in 1984 by Frederick Schram based on 100 specimens found in Nebraska and Iowa. A second species, G. fraiponti, was first named from multiple specimens found near Liège in 1922 and later reassigned to the genus.
A small crustacean with a total length of around 5 cm (2.0 in), this animal had a subrectangular carapace, a telson that narrows into a spike at the end, and four pairs of maxillipeds enlarged into raptorial appendages, the frontmost pair being larger than the others. It has been suggested to be a benthopelagic predator, using these appendages to capture prey, possibly from above, while swimming over the seabed.
species was actually more similar to Gorgonophontes than to Tyrannophontes, thus renaming it again as Gorgonophontes fraiponti. Later, Schram publishes...
and in 2004 he concluded they were mostly similar to Gorgonophontes, assigning them to Gorgonophontes cf. fraiponti. Other authors before him had tentatively...
However, this species was reassigned again to Tyrannophontes in 1984 and Gorgonophontes in 2004 (which it is currently placed in), leaving only A. vermiformis...
Tyrannophontes in 1984 by Frederick Schram, and then reassigned again to Gorgonophontes in 2004 by Lothar Schöllman. T. acanthocercus was named in 1998 and...
invertebrates and similar small prey. Similarly to the Carboniferous genera Gorgonophontes and Tyrannophontes, the walking appendages of Tyrannosculda were short...
pyritized remains found near Liège, Belgium. It was moved to the genus Gorgonophontes by German paleontologist Lothar Schöllmann in 2004. The body of Perimecturus...
monotypic group by Frederick Schram to contain only the type genus Gorgonophontes (which it is named after). A second genus, Chabardella, was assigned...
Schram and Vidal (2009) recognized Chabardella as a close relative of Gorgonophontes, which also has this feature. The authors thus placed Chabardella into...
synonym of Gorgonophontes fraiponti. Palaeocaris lohesti Sp. nov Jr synonym van Straelen Westphalian Belgium Junior synonym of Gorgonophontes fraiponti...
†Glikmanius †Glikmanius myachkovensis †Glikmanius occidentalis †Gorgonophontes †Gorgonophontes peleron – type locality for species †Graffhamicrinus †Graffhamicrinus...
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