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Dolichophonus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dolichophonus
Temporal range: Silurian (Telychian), 436–428 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Scorpiones
Family: Dolichophoniidae
Petrunkevitch, 1953[1]
Genus: Dolichophonus
Petrunkevitch, 1949[2]
Species:
D. loudonensis
Binomial name
Dolichophonus loudonensis
Synonyms[4]
  • Palaeophonus loudonensis Laurie, 1899

Dolichophonus is an extinct genus of scorpions known from the Silurian-age Gutterford Burn Eurypterid bed, in the Pentland Hills in Scotland. It is currently considered the world's oldest known scorpion, as the older Parioscorpio named in 2020 has been found to be an unrelated arthropod.

Discovery, naming, and history of classification

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The specimen of Dolichophonus was collected by Mr. Hardie of Bavelaw Castle.[3] When he died, his collection was given to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art (now National Museum of Scotland), where it was then studied by Malcolm Laurie. He named seven new species of eurypterids from the collection, along with this scorpion, which he named Palaeophonus loudonensis.[3] It was then transferred to a new genus, Dolichophonus, by Alexander Petrunkevitch in 1949.[2] The genus was then assigned to its own family, Dolichophoniidae, in 1953 by the same author.

References

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  1. Petrunkevitch, Alexander (1953). "Paleozoic And Mesozoic Arachnida Of Europe". Geological Society of America Memoirs. 53: 1–182. Bibcode:1953GSAMm..53....1P. doi:10.1130/mem53-p1. ISSN 0072-1069. S2CID 128463077.
  2. 1 2 A. I. Petrunkevitch. 1949. A study of the structure classification and relationships of the Palaeozoic Arachnida based on the collections of the British Museum. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 37:69-315
  3. 1 2 3 Laurie, Malcolm (1900). "XIX.— On a Silurian Scorpion and some additional Eurypterid Remains from the Pentland Hills" (PDF). Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 39 (3): 575–590. doi:10.1017/s0080456800035109. eISSN 2053-5945. ISSN 0080-4568. S2CID 163565981.
  4. Dolichophonus loudonensis in the Paleobiology Database