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Onychopterella

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Onychopterella ( , from Ancient Greek: ὄνῠξ (ónyx), "claw", and πτερόν (pteron), "wing") is a genus of predatory eurypterid ("sea scorpion"), an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Onychopterella have been discovered in deposits from the Late Ordovician to the Late Silurian. The genus contains three species: O. kokomoensis, the type species, from the Early Pridoli epoch of Indiana; O. pumilus, from the Early Llandovery epoch of Illinois, both from the United States; and O. augusti, from the Late Hirnantian to Early Rhuddanian stages of South Africa.

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Onychopterellidae
Image
Onychopterella kokomoensis holotype.png
Show 5 more facts
taxon name
Onychopterella
taxon rank
genus
Commons category
Onychopterella
start time
443900000-
end time
422000000-
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~24 min read

Encyclopedic overview

8 sections
Contents
  • Description
  • History of research
  • Classification
  • Paleobiology
  • Paleoecology
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Onychopterella ( , from Ancient Greek: ὄνῠξ (ónyx), "claw", and πτερόν (pteron), "wing") is a genus of predatory eurypterid ("sea scorpion"), an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Onychopterella have been discovered in deposits from the Late Ordovician to the Late Silurian. The genus contains three species: O. kokomoensis, the type species, from the Early Pridoli epoch of Indiana; O. pumilus, from the Early Llandovery epoch of Illinois, both from the United States; and O. augusti, from the Late Hirnantian to Early Rhuddanian stages of South Africa.

Its prosoma (head) could be subquadrate (almost square) or subrectangular (almost rectangular), with reniform (kidney-shaped) eyes. The appendages (limbs) were generally long, narrow and pointed at their tip. The abdomen and telson (the posteriormost division of the body) had different shapes and sizes depending on the species. The ornamentation of the body consisted of small, pointed scales. The largest species of the genus was O. kokomoensis with a total length of long, followed by O. augusti () and O. pumilus ().

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Onychopterella” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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