''Palaeodesmus tuberculata'' is an extinct species of millipede known from the

lower Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pragian from and then by the Emsian, w ...

period of modern-day

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was originally described as "Kampecaris tuberculata" by the Reverend Stanley Graham Brade-Birks, but was placed in its own new genus, ''Palaeodesmus'', in 2004. ''Palaeodesmus'' has three rows of tubercles or bosses in the shape of round-edged squares or rectangles on the dorsal portion of each body segment. ''Palaeodesmus'' is a member of the extinct group

Archipolypoda Archipolypoda is an extinct group of millipedes known from fossils in Europe and North America and containing the earliest known land animals. The Archipolypoda was erected by Scudder (1882) but redefined in 2005 with the description of sever ...

, but its anatomy is too poorly known to place it confidently within any known taxonomic family or order, and so it remains '' incertae sedis'' (uncertain placement), although possibly related to

archidesmida The Archidesmida is an extinct order (biology), order of millipedes known from fossils from the Devonian period of Europe and North America. Archidesmidans have broad flat keels (paranota) extending from their body segments, and a modified pair o ...

n species such as '' Archidesmus''.

References

Devonian myriapods Prehistoric myriapod genera †Palaeodesmus Fossils of Great Britain Fossil taxa described in 1923 {{Paleo-myriapod-stub