Maiocercus celticus is a species of early trigonotarbid arachnid from the Upper Carboniferous of Westhoughton, Lancashire, UK. The species was first described in 1902, with a "new species" being described in 1911 (M. orbicularis) which has been proven as being a junior synonym of M. celticus.[1][2]
| Maiocercus Temporal range:
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| Fossil of Maiocercus celticus located in Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, Brussels, Belgium. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | †Trigonotarbida |
| Family: | †Anthracomartidae |
| Genus: | †Maiocercus Pocock, 1902 |
| Species: | †M. celticus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Maiocercus celticus (Pocock, 1902)
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| Synonyms | |
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M. celticus is the type species of the genus Maiocercus.[3]
Originally zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock compared M. celticus to Brachypyge, with later evidence showing that Brachypyge had "opisthosoma which were much longer than wide; with the pleural laminæ of the second and third pleura-bearing terga being inclined slightly backwards" (Brachypyge) with Maiocercus having the “opisthosoma much wider than long; the pleural laminæ of the first, second, third, and fourth sterna being inclined slightly forwards”.[4]
The original drawing which showed Maiocercus described a pitting on the underside of the slightly forwarded laminæ, with a non-uniform concavity on the outer margins of them. The concavity is most well-marked in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth somites, with the opposite happening on the second, third and fourth somites.[5]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Dunlop, Jason A.; Horrocks, Carl A. (1996). "A new specimen of the Carboniferous trigonotarbid arachnid Maiocercus celticus (Pocock 1902) from Lancashire, UK". Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 51: 23–31. doi:10.1144/pygs.51.1.23.
- ^ Craven, D. J.; Dunlop, J. A. (2008). "The holotype of the trigonotarbid arachnid Maiocercus orbicularis Gill, 1911, a junior synonym of M. Celticus (Pocock, 1902)". Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 57: 61–62. doi:10.1144/pygs.57.1.61.
- ^ Yorkshire Geological Society. Yorkshire Geological Society. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2022 – via Google Books.
- ^ Gill, E. Leonard (1911). "II.—A Carboniferous Arachnid from Lancashire". Geological Magazine. 8 (9): 395–398. Bibcode:1911GeoM....8..395G. doi:10.1017/S0016756800116383. S2CID 129301901.
- ^ Geological Magazine. Cambridge University Press. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2022 – via Google Books.
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