Hibbertopteridae
| Hibbertopteridae Temporal range: Late Devonian - Late Permian, 385–252 Ma |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Reconstruction of Campylocephalus. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Merostomata |
| Order: | †Eurypterida |
| Suborder: | †Stylonurina |
| Superfamily: | †Hibbertopteroidea |
| Family: |
†Hibbertopteridae Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959 |
| Type genus | |
|
Hibbertopterus Kjellesvig-Waering, 1959 |
|
| Genera | |
| Synonyms | |
|
|
The Hibbertopteridae are a family of eurypterids, an extinct group of merostomatan arthropods commonly known as "sea scorpions". The family is one of three families contained in the superfamily Hibbertopteroidea (along with Mycteroptidae and Drepanopteridae), which in turn is one of four superfamilies classified as part of the suborder Stylonurina.
Hibbertopterids are among the most bizarre eurypterids and occurred from the Late Devonian to the Late Permian. Derived sweep-feeders, they inhabited freshwater swamps and rivers, feeding by raking through the soft sediment with blades on their anterior appendages to capture small invertebrates. Their morphology was so unusual that they have been thought to be an order separate to Eurypterida. Recent work however confirms them to be derived members of the suborder Stylonurina, closely related to Drepanopterus and the Mycteroptidae.
The Hibbertopterids were the last known living eurypterids, going extinct during the Permian-Triassic extinction event.
Hibbertopterids were large hibbertopteroids with broad prosoma, hastate telson with paired ventral keels and a culticular ornament of scales or mucrones. Appendage IV was spiniferous and tongueshaped scales were present on the tergite margins of the opisthosoma. The prosoma had posterolateral lobes.
Sweep-feeding strategies evolved independently in two of the four stylonurine superfamilies, the Stylonuroidea and the Hibbertopteroidea. In both superfamilies, the adaptations to this lifestyle involves modifications to the spines on their anterior prosomal appendages for raking through the substrate of their habitats. Stylonuroids have fixed spines on appendages II-IV which could have been used as dragnets to rake through the sediments and thus entangling anything in their way. Hibbertopteroids show even more extreme adaptations towards a sweep-feeding lifestyle. These adaptations are taken to an even further extreme within the Hibbertopteridae, with appendage IV possessing a blade alongside the appendages II-III (which also have blades in other hibbertopteroids).
...
Wikipedia