Redescription of Drepanopterus pentlandicus Laurie, 1892, the earliest known mycteropoid (Chelicerata: Eurypterida) from the early Silurian (Llandovery) of the Pentland Hills, Scotland

Abstract

ABSTRACTDrepanopterus pentlandicus Laurie, 1892 is redescribed from the original type material along with previously unfigured specimens. A cleft metastoma is confirmed as a characteristic of the genus, along with the armature of the second and third prosomal appendages being modified into flattened blades, while the species is shown to possess a somewhat enlarged second tergite and lateral prosomal margins that overlap the first opisthosomal tergite. Different ontogenetic stages of D. pentlandicus are described, and reveal that these latter characters develop only later in ontogeny, suggesting that described specimens of Drepanopterus abonensis Simpson, 1951 may represent juveniles. Cladistic analysis of Stylonurina shows the genus Drepanopterus to be monophyletic consisting of D. pentlandicus, D. abonensis and D. odontospathus sp. nov.: it forms a basal clade of mycteropoids. Hibbertopteroidea Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959 is shown to be a junior subjective synonym of Mycteropoidea Cope, 1886, with the synonymy of many of the hibbertopterid genera hypothesised and Hibbertopterus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959 suggested to represent juvenile specimens of Cyrtoctenus Størmer & Waterston, 1968. Hibbertopterus permianus Ponomarenko, 1985 is transferred to Campylocephalus Eichwald, 1860. The role of heterochrony in the morphological development of the mycteropoid lineage is discussed, with both hibbertopterids and mycteropids suggested to be hypertrophic and pre-displacement peramorphs respectively.