Angustidontus

''Angustidontus'' is a genus of predatory pelagic crustaceans from the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous periods, classified as part of the subclass Eumalacostraca. Fossils of the genus have been recovered in relative abundance from Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and large parts of the United States, including Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, Utah, Nevada.

The major eumalacostracan lineages had already diverged from each other during the Devonian, but their early evolutionary history remains relatively unknown due to a poor fossil record, making fossils of ''Angustidontus'' and other early eumalacostracans important for scientific study. Historically of uncertain classification, studies on the paleobiology of ''Angustidontus'' have allowed researchers to place it between the eumalacostracan orders Amphionidacea and Decapoda.

Description

''Angustidontus'' was a predatory angustidontid crustacean, measuring about 6 centimeters in length (9 centimeters if the large maxillipeds are counted). It had one pair of grasping maxillipeds and seven pairs of pereiopods. The first to fifth pair of pereiopods were subchelate and short, ending in a hooked and enlarged dactylus. The sixth and seventh pairs were thinner and longer, ending in simpler and smaller dactyli. The fifth and sixth pleonal somites expanded laterally, with some partial overlap over the telson (the posteriormost division of the body).

''Angustidontus'' had large grasping appendages, modified from the first or second thoracopods, which represent some of the earliest maxillipeds within the Eucarida. These maxillipeds were likely used through being folded downwards to strike at prey, then hold the prey and prevent it from wriggling itself free. '' Schramidontus'', the only known close relative of ''Angustidontus'', also possessed a second smaller pair of maxillipeds that it could use to bring prey to the maxillae, maxillulae and its large mandibles, but these are absent in ''Angustidontus''. Instead, ''Angustidontus'' used the next four pairs of thoracopods (which were short and possessed strong claws and serrated gnathobases) to tear apart prey and transport it to the mouth.

History of research

The genus ''Angustidontus'' was named by Chalmer L. Cooper in 1936, together with the family " Angustidontidae". Cooper described the fossils, consisting of the serrated appendages, as fossil jaws of actinopterygian fish. Since then, the appendages of ''Angustidontus'' have been the subject of much debate on its classification. In the 1950s, it was suggested that the fossils instead represented eurypterid chelicerae, possibly of something closely related to ''Pterygotus''.

Copeland & Bolton (1960) considered the fossils to instead represent gill rakers of fish or be "claws similar to those on the second maxilliped of the stomatopod '' Squilla''", furthermore the appendage was noticed to have had some kind of "ball and socket" joint type of articulation. Though it was noted several times by prominent researchers that ''Angustidontus'' did likely not represent a eurypterid, it was subsequently treated as a eurypterid (albeit dubiously so) for decades by many authors. This was not universal however, with Jean Berdan concluding in 1964, after studying multiple ''Angustidontus'' appendages, that the "rami of ''Angustidontus'' are almost certainly part of an arthropod rather than a vertebrate but are not necessarily part of a eurypterid".

''Angustidontus'' often occurs together with '' Concavicaris'', another Devonian crustacean. ''Concavicaris'' fossils tend to lack the appendages, whilst ''Angustidontus'' fossils often lack the cephalothoracic shield because of its weak sclerotisation. This caused some confusion, and some researchers have suggested that the two would represent different parts of the same animal. Expeditions to fossil localities in Nevada where ''Concavicaris'' and ''Angustidontus'' were reported to have occurred together by Cooper in 1936 yielded more information on the appendages of ''Concavicaris'' and allowed it to be determined that the appendages of ''Angustidontus'' did not represent appendages of ''Concavicaris''. With hundreds of specimens being collected, proper research could be conducted on ''Angustidontus'' for the first time with the discovery of the first complete specimens.

The new specimens allowed researchers to determine that ''Angustidontus'' was a peracarid malacostracan crustacean, and that ''Concavicaris'' simply represented a separate animal that was part of a larger Late Devonian fauna including a large amount of different invertebrates, such as worms, cephalopods, bivalves, brachipods and sponges. The appendages which had caused confusion in the past were revealed to be the first thoracopods, but greatly elongated and adapted to be used in feeding.

Classification

''Angustidontus'' is classified as part of the extinct family Angustidontidae together with the freshwater genus '' Schramidontus'' from Belgium. This family is the only family classified as part of the eucarid order Angustidontida. Angustidontids are diagnosed as eucarids that possess carapaces and stalked eyes with "scale-like exopods" on the second antennae, an elongated pleion and a tail fan. These features make the group distinct from most eumalacostracan crustaceans and they are classified as part of the Eucarida due to their carapace being fused to thoracic segments 1-7.

Some additional species of ''Angustidontus'' have been named other than the type species (''A. seriatus''), such as "''A. weihmannae''", but they were all considered synonymous with ''A. seriatus'' by Rolfe & Dzik (2006), with only the type species remaining as valid. Based on the morphology of different fossil mandibles, fossil material from the Early Famennian of Poland may represent two possible additional species.

The cladogram below is based on the relationships of the Eucarida assumed by Gueriau, Charbonnier and Clément (2014), based on the gradual modification of the first thoracopods into the maxillipeds seen in the Decapoda.

Paleoecology

Environment

The life environment of ''Angustidontus'' was low in diversity, but might have been very high in biological productivity. Fossil animals found in association with ''Angustidontus'' are exclusively open sea pelagic creatures, such as conodonts, cephalopods, ostracods, concavicarids and fish. The bottom regions were likely slightly benthose with a soft and muddy environment. This environment was likely anaerobic and poisonous, with abundant hydrogen sulfide, which would have prevented decomposition and allowed for fossils to be preserved.

Concavicarids, pelagic crustaceans of uncertain classification found in association with ''Angustidontus'', also had chelicerae-like appendages and were covered in protective spines. They were predators, with known stomach contents including cephalopod remains as well as shark and teleost fish vertebrae. The appendages of concavicarids like '' Concavicaris'' differed in functionality from those of ''Angustiodontus'' and were thus likely used to catch other kinds of prey than what was eaten by ''Angustidontus''. Concavicarids may not only have occupied a different niche, but an entirely different level in the water column.

Prey

There are no taxonomically identifiable gut contents in any ''Angustidontus'' specimen. There are some known small fossil pieces found in association to ''Angustidontus'' specimens that may represent cephalopod jaws or conches of thin-shelled molluscs. The specimen NMNH 530451 preserves a spiral imprint that might represent the larval conch of a goniatite. ''Angustidontus'' might thus have fed on cephalopods. Another likely prey item based on its presence in Late Devonian pelagic environments are conodonts.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3617433

Prehistoric crustacean genera
Prehistoric Malacostraca
Devonian arthropods of North America
Carboniferous arthropods of North America
Devonian crustaceans
Carboniferous crustaceans