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Early Devonian (Lochkovian) eurypterids from the Yunnan province of southwest China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2022

Zhiheng Ma Open the ORCID record for Zhiheng Ma [Opens in a new window] ,
Tingshan Zhang ,
James C Lamsdell Open the ORCID record for James C Lamsdell [Opens in a new window] ,
Jingwen Chen ,
Paul A Selden Open the ORCID record for Paul A Selden [Opens in a new window]  and
Liurunxuan Chen
Zhiheng Ma
Affiliation:
School of Geoscience and Technology, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Tingshan Zhang*
Affiliation:
School of Geoscience and Technology, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
James C Lamsdell
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Jingwen Chen
Affiliation:
Fujian Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China
Paul A Selden
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA Natural History Museum, London, UK
Liurunxuan Chen
Affiliation:
Faculty of Land Resources Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
*
Author for correspondence: Tingshan Zhang, Email: zhangtingshan@swpu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Two new eurypterids, a pterygotid Pterygotus wanggaii n. sp. and an adelophthalmoid Parahughmilleria fuea n. sp., are described from the Early Devonian (Lochkovian) Xiaxishancun Formation of Yunnan province, southwest China. This discovery represents the first record of Parahughmilleria from Gondwana and the first Pterygotus from China. Pterygotus wanggaii n. sp. is characterized by the first primary denticles (d1,d1′) being located on the middle part of the cheliceral ramus and third primary denticles (d3,d3′) elongate, even longer than the first primary denticles. Parahughmilleria fuea n. sp. is differentiated by being a large Parahughmilleria with strongly developed lateral epimera from tergites T4 to T12. These discoveries not only extend the geographical extent of the genera Pterygotus and Parahughmilleria from Euramerica to SW China, but also give insight into the similarity of ecosystem structures across the Early Devonian world. In addition, based on previous studies, the new discoveries further support the hypothesis that eurypterids underwent a crisis during the Silurian–Devonian boundary interval.

Keywords

eurypteridsPterygotusParahughmilleriageographical extentEarly Devoniansouthwest China
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 160 , Issue 1 , January 2023 , pp. 172 - 179
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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