Temporal range: Early Silurian - Late Permian, 442–251.9 Ma
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Reconstruction of Hibbertopterus, a hibbertopterid.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Chelicerata
Order:
†Eurypterida
Suborder:
†Stylonurina
Superfamily:
†Mycteropoidea Cope, 1886
Families
†Drepanopteridae
†Hibbertopteridae
†Mycteroptidae
Synonyms
Hibbertopteroidea Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959
Mycteropoidea is an extinct superfamily of eurypterids, an extinct group of chelicerate arthropods commonly known as "sea scorpions". It is one of four superfamilies classified as part of the suborder Stylonurina. Mycteropoids have been recovered from Europe, Russia, South America and South Africa. Mycteropoid specimens are often fragmentary, making it difficult to establish relationships between the included taxa. Only two mycteropoid taxa are known from reasonable complete remains, Hibbertopterus scouleri and H. wittebergensis.[1]
Mycteropoids were large bizarre Eurypterids found from the Early Silurian to the end of the Permian period.[2] They were sweep feeders, inhabiting freshwater swamps and rivers, feeding by raking through the soft sediment with blades on their anterior appendages to capture small invertebrates.[3] Their morphology was so unusual that they have been thought to be an order separate to Eurypterida.[4] Recent work however confirms them to be derived members of the suborder Stylonurina, with the genus Drepanopterus being a basal member of their superfamily.[5]
The mycteropoids are important within eurypterid evolutionary history as the last group of eurypterids to experience a significant radiation in diversity at the genus level (during the Late Devonian and Carboniferous) as well as being the latest known surviving members of the group, going extinct during the Permian-Triassic extinction event.[5]
^Jeram, Andrew J.; Selden, Paul A. (1993/01). "Eurypterids from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 84 (3-4): 301–308. doi:10.1017/S0263593300006118. ISSN 1755-6929.
^Tetlie, O E (2007). "Distribution and dispersal history of Eurypterida (Chelicerata)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 252 (3–4): 557–574. Bibcode:2007PPP...252..557T. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.05.011.
^Selden, P.A., Corronca, J.A. & Hünicken, M.A (2005). "The true identity of the supposed giant fossil spider Megarachne". Biology Letters. 1 (1): 44–48. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2004.0272. PMC 1629066. PMID 17148124.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Tollerton, V P (1989). "Morphology, Taxonomy, and Classification of the Order Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843". Journal of Paleontology. 63 (5): 642–657. Bibcode:1989JPal...63..642T. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.726.6218. doi:10.1017/S0022336000041275. S2CID 46953627.
^ abJames 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. Bibcode:2010JSPal...8...49L. doi:10.1080/14772011003603564. S2CID 85398946.
Mycteropoidea is an extinct superfamily of eurypterids, an extinct group of chelicerate arthropods commonly known as "sea scorpions". It is one of four...
environments. Megarachne was similar to other eurypterids within the Mycteropoidea, a rare group known primarily from South Africa and Scotland. The mycteropoids...
superfamilies; the Rhenopteroidea, Stylonuroidea, Kokomopteroidea and Mycteropoidea. The most primitive of these, the Rhenopteroidea, includes several previously...
own genus, and linked to a new own family, Woodwardopteridae inside Mycteropoidea, probably as a sister taxon of Megarachne. W. scarabrosus had carapace...
also lends its name to, a family of eurypterids within the superfamily Mycteropoidea, alongside the genera Campylocephalus and Vernonopterus. The hibbertopterids...
extinct group of aquatic arthropods. They were members of the superfamily Mycteropoidea. Hibbertopterids were large, broad and heavy animals unlike virtually...
both stylonurine groups such as the Stylonuroidea, Kokomopteroidea and Mycteropoidea as well as eurypterine groups such as the Pterygotioidea, Eurypteroidea...
scorpions". The family is one of three families contained in the superfamily Mycteropoidea (along with Hibbertopteridae and Drepanopteridae), which in turn is...
family Hibbertopteridae, a family of eurypterids within the superfamily Mycteropoidea, alongside the genera Hibbertopterus and Vernonopterus. The genus contains...
eurypterid and the only member of the family Drepanopteridae within the Mycteropoidea superfamily. There are currently three species assigned to the genus...
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