Temporal range: Middle Devonian - Late Permian, 387.7–251.9 Ma
PreꞒ
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S
D
C
P
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Drawings of the carapace of Hibbertopterus scouleri, from above (upper drawing) and below (lower drawing) and of the ornamentation of the posterior side of the head (enlarged, left) by Henry Woodward, 1866-1878.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Chelicerata
Order:
†Eurypterida
Suborder:
†Stylonurina
Superfamily:
†Mycteropoidea
Family:
†Hibbertopteridae Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959
Type genus
†Hibbertopterus
Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959
Genera
†Campylocephalus
†Hibbertopterus
†Vernonopterus
Synonyms
Cyrtoctenidae Waterston et al., 1985
Hibbertopteridae (the name deriving from the type genus Hibbertopterus, meaning "Hibbert's wing") is a family of eurypterids, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. They were members of the superfamily Mycteropoidea. Hibbertopterids were large, broad and heavy animals unlike virtually every other group of eurypterids, which are commonly streamlined and lightweight. Their bizarre morphology is so unusual that they in the past have been thought to represent an entirely distinct order of chelicerates. Fossils of the family first appear in deposits of Middle Devonian age and the last known fossils representing hibbertopterids are known from deposits of Late Permian age. The hibbertopterids represent the last known living eurypterids, going extinct during the Permian–Triassic extinction event or shortly before.[1]
Although eurypterids are commonly known as "sea scorpions", hibbertopterids inhabited freshwater swamps and rivers and were unable to swim since they lacked swimming paddles, a feature they shared with their entire suborder, the Stylonurina. Hibbertopterids fed using a method referred to as sweep-feeding, in which the animal would rake through the soft sediment of their substrate with specialised blades on their forward-facing appendages to capture small invertebrates. Though this method of feeding was present in other mycteropoids and in stylonuroids, it was at its most advanced stage within the derived Hibbertopteridae.
The hibbertopterids were the largest of all stylonurine eurypterids, with both Hibbertopterus at 180–200 centimetres (5.9–6.6 ft) and Campylocephalus at 140 centimetres (4.6 feet) representing giant eurypterids in their own right. Though longer eurypterids are known from the eurypterine suborder, notably the largest known arthropod of all time, Jaekelopterus, at 230–260 centimetres (7.5–8.5 ft), hibbertopterids were far bulkier than any of the largest eurypterine eurypterids and as such likely represent the overall heaviest animals in the order.
^James C. Lamsdell, Simon J. Braddy & O. Erik Tetlie (2010). "The systematics and phylogeny of the Stylonurina (Arthropoda: Chelicerata: Eurypterida)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 8 (1): 49–61. doi:10.1080/14772011003603564. S2CID 85398946.
Hibbertopteridae (the name deriving from the type genus Hibbertopterus, meaning "Hibbert's wing") is a family of eurypterids, an extinct group of aquatic...
blade-like shape. In some lineages, notably the Pterygotioidea, the Hibbertopteridae and the Mycteroptidae, the telson was flattened and may have been used...
are classified within one of two families, the Hibbertopteridae or the Mycteroptidae. The Hibbertopteridae and Mycteropidae are united by the possession...
of arthropods. Hibbertopterus is classified as part of the family Hibbertopteridae, which it also lends its name to, a family of eurypterids within the...
giant eurypterids, particularly the deep-bodied walking forms in the Hibbertopteridae, such as the almost 2-metre-long Hibbertopterus, may have rivalled...
three families contained in the superfamily Mycteropoidea (along with Hibbertopteridae and Drepanopteridae), which in turn is one of four superfamilies classified...
Hibbertopterus scouleri) and placed both genera within the family Hibbertopteridae. Described by Russian paleontologist Alexey G. Ponomarenko in 1985...
Cope, 1886 Family Drepanopteridae Kjellesvig-Waering, 1966 Family Hibbertopteridae Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959 Family Mycteroptidae Cope, 1886 The cladogram...
Størmer in 1968. Modern researchers classify the genus within the Hibbertopteridae instead, sometimes noting that its position is somewhat uncertain due...
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