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Chelicerate
The subphylum Chelicerata (from Neo-Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. Chelicerates include the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, ticks, and mites, among many others), as well as a number of extinct lineages, such as the eurypterids (sea scorpions) and chasmataspidids. Chelicerata split from Mandibulata by the mid-Cambrian, as evidenced by stem-group chelicerates like Habeliida and '' Mollisonia'' present by this time. The surviving marine species include the four species of xiphosurans (horseshoe crabs), and possibly the 1,300 species of pycnogonids (sea spiders), if the latter are indeed chelicerates. On the other hand, there are over 77,000 well-identified species of air-breathing chelicerates, and there may be about 500,000 unidentified species. Like all arthropods, chelicerates have segmented bodies with jointed limbs, all covered in a cuticle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pycnogonida
Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (; named after ''Pycnogonum'', the type genus; with the suffix '). The class includes the only now-living order Pantopoda ( ‘all feet’), alongside a few fossil species which could trace back to the early or mid Paleozoic. They are cosmopolitan, found in oceans around the world. The over 1,300 known species have leg spans ranging from to over . Most are toward the smaller end of this range in relatively shallow depths; however, they can grow to be quite large in Antarctic and deep waters. Despite their name and brief resemblance, "sea spiders" are not spiders, nor even arachnids. While some literature around the 2000s suggests they may be a sister group to all other living arthropods, their traditional classification as a member of chelicerates alongside horseshoe crabs and arachnids has regained wide support in subsequent studies. Morphology Many sea spiders are recognised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Spider
Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the class (biology), class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (; named after ''Pycnogonum'', the type genus; with the suffix '). The class includes the only now-living order (biology), order Pantopoda ( ‘all feet’), alongside a few fossil species which could trace back to the early or mid Paleozoic. They are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan, found in oceans around the world. The over 1,300 known species have leg spans ranging from to over . Most are toward the smaller end of this range in relatively shallow depths; however, they can grow to be quite large in Antarctic and deep-sea gigantism, deep waters. Despite their name and brief resemblance, "sea spiders" are not spiders, nor even arachnids. While some literature around the 2000s suggests they may be a sister group to all other living arthropods, their traditional classification as a member of chelicerates alongside Xiphosura, horseshoe crabs and arachnids has r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spider
Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all Order (biology), orders of organisms. Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every land habitat. , 53,034 spider species in 136 Family (biology), families have been recorded by Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. However, there has been debate among scientists about how families should be classified, with over 20 different classifications proposed since 1900. Anatomy, Anatomically, spiders (as with all arachnids) differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segmentation (biology), segments are fused into two Tagma (biology), tagmata, the cephalothorax or prosoma, and the opisthosoma, or abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthropod
Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metamerism (biology), metameric) Segmentation (biology), segments, and paired jointed appendages. In order to keep growing, they must go through stages of moulting, a process by which they shed their exoskeleton to reveal a new one. They form an extremely diverse group of up to ten million species. Haemolymph is the analogue of blood for most arthropods. An arthropod has an open circulatory system, with a body cavity called a haemocoel through which haemolymph circulates to the interior Organ (anatomy), organs. Like their exteriors, the internal organs of arthropods are generally built of repeated segments. They have ladder-like nervous systems, with paired Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, ventral Ventral nerve cord, nerve cord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weinbergina
''Weinbergina'' is a genus of synziphosurine, a paraphyletic group of fossil chelicerate arthropods. Fossils of the single and type species, ''W. opitzi'', have been discovered in deposits of the Devonian period in the Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Morphology ''Weinbergina'' is a relatively large synziphosurine, ranging about 7 cm to 10 cm in full body length. The prosoma is covered by a semicircular carapace with blunt genal cornua (posterolateral corners). There is possible evidence of lateral eyes located just below the ophthalmic ridges. The opisthosoma is externally 10-segmented, expressed by tergites that possess blunt tergopleurae (lateral extension) and axial nodes. However, the opisthosoma is most likely 11-segmented in origin, with the first segment being highly reduced (a synapomorphy of euchelicerates) and possibly covered by the preceding carapace. The last 3 segments form a narrow postabdomen and lacking lateral nodes. Compared to other synziphosurines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Offacolus
''Offacolus'' is an extinct genus of euchelicerate, a group of chelicerate arthropods. Its only species, ''O. kingi'', has been found in deposits from the Silurian period ( Homerian epoch) in the Wenlock Series Lagerstätte of Herefordshire, England. The genus is named after Offa, a king from the ancient kingdom of Mercia, and ''colus'', a person who dwelled among (this time referring to) the Offa's Dyke. The species name honors Robert Joseph King, a British mineralogist who found the fossils of ''Offacolus''. Similar to ''Dibasterium'', ''Offacolus'' possess limb-like exopods (outer limb branches) on appendage II to V, a character suggest to be plesiomorphic (observable in the putative stem-chelicerate taxon Habeliida) and lost within the prosomapod clade. Classification ''Offacolus'' was originally described as an arthropod with chelicerate affinities, with detailed redescription done by Sutton ''et al.'' 2002 further suggested it to be unambiguously a chelicerate arthro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurypterid
Eurypterids, often informally called sea scorpions, are a group of extinct marine arthropods that form the Order (biology), order Eurypterida. The earliest known eurypterids date to the Darriwilian stage of the Ordovician period, 467.3 Myr, million years ago. The group is likely to have appeared first either during the Early Ordovician or Late Cambrian period. With approximately 250 species, the Eurypterida is the most diverse Paleozoic Chelicerata, chelicerate order. Following their appearance during the Ordovician, eurypterids became major components of marine faunas during the Silurian, from which the majority of eurypterid species have been described. The Silurian genus ''Eurypterus'' accounts for more than 90% of all known eurypterid specimens. Though the group continued to diversify during the subsequent Devonian period, the eurypterids were heavily affected by the Late Devonian extinction event. They declined in numbers and diversity until becoming extinct during the Permi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arachnida
Arachnids are arthropods in the class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroons. Adult arachnids have eight legs attached to the cephalothorax. In some species the frontmost pair of legs has converted to a sensory function, while in others, different appendages can grow large enough to take on the appearance of extra pairs of legs. Almost all extant arachnids are terrestrial, living mainly on land. However, some inhabit freshwater environments and, with the exception of the pelagic zone, marine environments as well. They comprise over 110,000 named species, of which 51,000 are species of spiders. The term is derived from the Greek word (''aráchnē'', 'spider'), from the myth of the hubristic human weaver Arachne, who was turned into a spider. Morphology Almost all adult arachnids have eight legs, unlike adult insects whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xiphosura
Xiphosura (; , in reference to its sword-like telson) 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, Horseshoe crab, Limulidae). They first appeared in the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician). Currently, there are only four living species. Xiphosura contains one suborder, Xiphosurida, and several stem-genera. The group has hardly changed in appearance in hundreds of millions of years; the modern horseshoe crabs look almost identical to prehistoric genera and are considered to be living fossils. The most notable difference between ancient and modern forms is that the abdominal segments in present species are fused into a single unit in adults. Xiphosura were historically placed in the class Merostomata, although this term was intended to encompass also the Eurypterida, eurypterids, whence it denoted what is now thought to be an unnatural (paraphyletic) group (although this is a gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Offacolidae
Offacolidae is a family of basal euchelicerate arthropods from the Ordovician and Silurian of Europe, Morocco and North America. The family is united by several features, including paddle-like sixth post-cheliceral appendages, elongated chelicerae, and reduced first tergites, although these are apparently not unique to the clade, but instead euchelicerate or wider synapomorphies, therefore making the clade paraphyletic. Alongside this, ''Offacolus'' may be more basal than the rest of the clade, as its seventh exopod pair is unreduced and it has a bipartite telson The telson () is the hindmost division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment (biology), segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segm ..., among other features. They share with most other euchelicerates a wide carapace, which has led to them being placed in the paraphyletic “ Synziphosurina” for a long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mollisoniida
Mollisoniida is an extinct order of chelicerates, living from the mid-Cambrian to Early Ordovician. The clade is united by the presence of various characteristics. These include an elongated dorsal exoskeleton, seven articulating tergites and similarly sized cephalic and pygidial shields, in addition to only having three pairs of walking legs and the rest of the limbs being used as gills (which likely places them nearest to Euchelicerata, due to sharing similar arrangements of limbs). The clade is relatively diverse, containing three (possibly four) genera. '' Mollisonia'' and '' Thelxiope'' are both known from four species extending from Cambrian to Ordovician, with ''Thelxiope'' being very spiny and often with a shortened body. ''Mollisonia'', on the other hand, barely has any spines at all, and (with the exception of ''Mollisonia plenovenatrix'' and ''Mollisonia sinica'', which are similarly shaped to ''Thelxiope'') has a relatively elongated body. '' Corcorania'' is purely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megacheira
Megacheira ("great hands", also historically great appendage arthropods) is an extinct class of predatory arthropods defined by their possession of spined "great appendages". Their taxonomic position is controversial, with studies either considering them stem-group euarthropods, or stem-group chelicerates. The homology of the great appendages to the cephalic appendages of other arthropods is also controversial. Uncontested members of the group were present in marine environments worldwide from the lower Cambrian to the upper Ordovician. Morphology Megacheirans are defined by their possession of uniramous "great appendages", which are their first pair of head appendages. The first one or two proximalmost segments/ podomeres are spineless (it has been argued that the supposed first of the two proximal podomeres is actually an arthrodial membrane), while the remaining 3–4 more distal podomeres each typically bear a single upward pointing spine attached towards the distal en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
