Palaeophonus

Palaeophonus (meaning "ancient killer") is the oldest known genus of scorpions.[2]

Palaeophonus
Temporal range: [1][2]
Fossil illustration of Palaeophonus nuncius
Restoration model
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Scorpiones
Suborder: †Lobosternina
Superfamily: †Palaeophonoidea
Thorell & Lindström, 1884
Family: †Palaeophonidae
Thorell & Lindström, 1884
Genus: †Palaeophonus
Thorell & Lindström, 1884
Type species
†Palaeophonus nuncius

Fossil records

This genus is known in the fossil record from the Silurian to the Carboniferous (age range: 428.2 to 314.6 million years ago). Fossils have been found in Europe, the United States, and Canada.[3]

Description
Reconstruction of P. nuncius in dorsal and ventral view

Palaeophonus was virtually identical to modern scorpions. It grew to a lengths of 2.5–3.5 in (64–89 mm).[4] These animals did not have eyes and therefore they were blind.[5]

Palaeophonus seems to have been terrestrial.[6][7]

Species

Species within this genus include:[3]

  • †P. arctus Matthew 1894
  • †P. lightbodyi Kjellesvig-Waering 1954
  • †P. nuncius Thorell and Lindström 1884
  • †P. osborni Whitfield 1885

References
  1. Laurie, M. (2012). "XIX.—On a Silurian Scorpion and some additional Eurypterid Remains from the Pentland Hills". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 39 (3): 575–590. doi:10.1017/S0080456800035109. S2CID 163565981.
  2. Dunlop, J. A. (2010). "Geological history and phylogeny of Chelicerata". Arthropod Structure & Development. 39 (2–3): 124–142. doi:10.1016/j.asd.2010.01.003. PMID 20093195.
  3. Paleobiology Database
  4. G. A. Polis The Biology of scorpions
  5. The Eurypterida of New York Volume 1.pdf/408
  6. Gess, R. W. (2013). "The Earliest Record of Terrestrial Animals in Gondwana: a Scorpion from the Famennian (Late Devonian) Witpoort Formation of South Africa". African Invertebrates. 54 (2): 373–379. doi:10.5733/afin.054.0206.
  7. Alexander Petrunkevitch, 1953, Paleozoic and Mesozoic Arachnida of Europe
  • Steve Parker (2003). Dinosaurus: the Complete Guide to Dinosaurs. Firefly Books. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-55297-772-9.
  • Frank H.T. Rodes, Herbert S. Zim en Paul R. Shaffer (1993) - Natuurgids Fossielen (het ontstaan, prepareren en rangschikken van fossielen), Zuidnederlandse Uitgeverij N.V., Aartselaar. ISBN D-1993-0001-361
  • s:The Scottish Silurian Scorpion R. I. Pocock, 1901


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