Synziphosurina is a

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

group of

chelicerate The subphylum Chelicerata (from New Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. It contains the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, ticks, and mite ...

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s previously thought to be basal horseshoe crabs (

Xiphosura Xiphosura () is an order of arthropods related to arachnids. They are more commonly known as horseshoe crabs (a name applied more specifically to the only extant family, Limulidae). They first appeared in the Hirnantian ( Late Ordovician). Curr ...

). It was later identified as a grade composed of various basal euchelicerates, eventually excluded form the

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

Xiphosura ''sensu stricto'' and only regarded as horseshoe crabs under a broader sense ('Xiphosura' ''sensu lato''). Synziphosurines survived at least since

early Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. ...

early Carboniferous Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * Early ...

in ages, with most species are known from the in-between

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

strata.

File:20200920 Synziphosurina dorsal segmentation.png, Dorsal morphology and variation of opisthosomal segmentation across synziphosurines. 20200929 Synziphosurina Synziphosurine size comparison

20200929 Synziphosurina Synziphosurine size comparison

While ''Weinbergina'' and ''

Willwerathia ''Willwerathia'' is a genus of synziphosurine, a paraphyletic group of horseshoe crab-like fossil chelicerate arthropods. ''Willwerathia'' known only by one species, ''Willwerathia laticeps'', discovered in deposits of the Devonian period from t ...

'' being exceptionally large, most synziphosurines are small arthropods with body length ranging only about a few centimeters long. The body of synziphosurine composed of a

prosoma The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

covered by a dome-like

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

(prosomal dorsal shield) and an

opisthosoma The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma (cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects to a ...

with usually unfused 9-11 segments expressed by

tergites A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'mar ...

. With the exception of ''

Pseudoniscus ''Pseudoniscus'' is a genus of synziphosurine, a paraphyletic group of fossil chelicerate arthropods. ''Pseudoniscus'' was regarded as part of the clade Planaterga. Fossils of the genus have been discovered in Deposition (geology), deposits of th ...

'' and '' Pasternakevia'', the last 3 opisthosomal segments precede the spine-like

telson The telson () is the posterior-most division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segment on accou ...

are specialized into a narrow postabdomen (pretelson), while the remaining wider segments referred to as preabdomen. A reduced anteriormost tergite (microtergite) originated from the first opisthosomal segment is observable at least in some genera. Most synziphosurines are possibly blind, with only a few species showing possible (e.g. '' Weinbergina opitzi'') or clear (e.g. '' Legrandella lombardii'') evidences of lateral

compound eye A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which disti ...

s on their carapaces. Evidences of

appendages An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

are scarce, fragmentary known from '' Anderella parva'', '' Camanchia grovensis'' and '' Venustulus waukeshaensis'' while exceptionally well-documented in '' Weinbergina opitzi''. The prosoma possess a pair of

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as "jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated fangs, or similarly ...

and at least 5 pairs of walking legs while the opisthosoma probably has 6 pairs of plate-like opercula. As of 2020, at least 13 genera and 20 species were considered to be synziphosurines. The even basal euchelicerates '' Offacolus'' and ''

Dibasterium ''Dibasterium'' is an extinct genus of euchelicerate, a group of chelicerate arthropods. Fossils of the single and type species, ''D. durgae'', have been discovered in the Coalbrookdale Formation of the Middle Silurian period (Homerian age) in ...

'', the questionable genus '' Borchgrevinkium'', as well as the

Dekatriata Dekatriata is a clade of planatergan chelicerates including the groups Arachnida, Chasmataspidida, Eurypterid Eurypterids, often informally called sea scorpions, are a group of extinct arthropods that form the order Eurypterida. The earliest ...

-related ''

Houia ''Houia'' is an extinct genus of dekatriatan, a clade of chelicerate arthropods. Fossils of ''Houia'' have been discovered in deposits of the Early Devonian period in Guangxi and Yunnan, both in China. The genus contains two species: ''H. g ...

'' and '' Winneshiekia'', may also regarded as members of synziphosurines in some literatures.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7662951 Xiphosura Paraphyletic groups Early Ordovician first appearances Carboniferous extinctions