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A Redescription of the Late Carboniferous Eurypterids Adelophthalmus Granosus Von Meyer, 1853 and A

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A Redescription of the Late Carboniferous Eurypterids Adelophthalmus Granosus Von Meyer, 1853 and A Mitt. Mus. Nat.kd. Berl., Geowiss. Reihe 8 (2005), 3–12 / DOI 10.1002/mmng.200410001 A redescription of the Late Carboniferous eurypterids Adelophthalmus granosus von Meyer, 1853 and A. zadrai Prˇibyl, 1952 O. Erik Tetlie*,1,2 & Jason A. Dunlop**,3 1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK 2 Current address: Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA 3 Museum fu¨ r Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universita¨t zu Berlin, Institut fu¨ r Systematische Zoologie, Invalidenstraße 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany Received 15 November 2004, accepted 23 March 2005 Published online 02. 11. 2005 With 3 figures and 1 table Key words: Carboniferous, Germany, Czech Republic, systematics. Abstract The earliest named, and type species, of the Middle Devonian–Middle Permian eurypterid genus Adelophthalmus, the mono- typic, Late Carboniferous A. granosus von Meyer, 1853, is redescribed as a first step towards resolving the number of species and phylogenetic relationships within the adelophthalmid clade. A second Late Carboniferous monotypic species, A. zadrai Prˇibyl, 1952, is also redescribed, since the part of the holotype was discovered in the Berlin collection under an erroneous manuscript name. The two species are different, but can only be separated using characters whose validity and stability must be tested against a wider spectrum of taxa. A list of described adelophthalmids is presented together with an overview of the synonyms previously suggested, with discussions of the validity of at least some of the species currently synonomised. Schlu¨ sselwo¨ rter: Karbon, Deutschland, Tschechien, Systematik. Zusammenfassung Der historisch fru¨ heste Nachweis von der vom Devon bis zum Perm u¨ berlieferten Eurypteriden-Gattung Adelophthalmus, die monotypische Typus-Art A. granosus von Meyer, 1853, wird revidiert. Es ist dies ein erster Schritt, um die Anzahl der Arten und die phylogenetischen Verha¨ltnisse innerhalb des Adelophthalmiden-Clades zu kla¨ren. Eine zweite monotypische Art, A. zadrai Prˇibyl, 1952, wird ebenfalls neu beschrieben, nachdem ein Teil des Holotypus in der Berliner Sammlung unter einem fehlerhaften Manuskript-Namen wieder aufgefunden wurde. Beide Arten lassen sich derzeit nur durch Merkmale unterschei- den, deren Gu¨ ltigkeit erst noch vor dem Hintergrund eines weiteren Spektrum von Taxa u¨ berpru¨ ft werden muss. Die bisher beschriebenen Adelophthalmiden, einschließlich bisherige vorgeschlagenen Synonyme, werden aufgelistet; die Gu¨ ltigkeit we- nigstens einiger dieser Synonyme wird diskutiert. # 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Introduction in Silurian – Early Devonian strata from Europe and North America. After the Devonian, euryp- Eurypterids are a diverse group of Palaeozoic terids as a group become rarer and appear to chelicerates known from the Middle Ordovician have migrated, or been driven, from their earlier to the Late Permian, occurring most frequently marginal marine environments into more brack- * Corresponding author: e-mail: [email protected] ** E-mail: [email protected] # 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 4 Tetlie, O. E. & J. A. Dunlop, Late Carboniferous eurypterids ish and freshwater ones (Prˇibyl 1952), the Carbo- niferous Coal Measures being a typical example. Although also known from Devonian rocks (Ta- ble 1), adelophthalmids constitute most of the post-Devonian eurypterids, both in terms of the number of described species and the number of specimens, and are one of only three eurypterid clades to survive into the Carboniferous; the others being the gigantic, bizarre-looking hibber- topterids (Hibbertopterus, Cyrtoctenus, Campylo- cephalus, Hastimima, Dunsopterus, Vernonop- terus and now Megarachne; see Selden et al. 2005) and the enigmatic woodwardopterids (Woodwardopterus and Mycterops). Adelophthalmids (Fig. 1) are small, stream- lined, swimming eurypterids with prominent scaly ornamentation. They have previously been referred to six genera: Adelophthalmus von Meyer, 1853, Lepidoderma Reuss, 1855, Anthra- conectes Meek & Worthen, 1868, Polyzosterites Goldenberg, 1873, Glyptoscorpius Peach, 1882 and Unionopterus Chernyshev, 1948. The last is poorly known, but appears to be distinct, while the other five genera have, at one time or an- other, been considered synonyms (see Systema- tics). It is clear that the oldest name, Ade- lophthalmus, has priority. In this respect, Adelophthalmus granosus von Meyer, 1853 is very important as the oldest available name for any adelophthalmid species and a potential se- nior synonym of some of the less convincing taxa; at least some of which have been assigned to A. imhofi (Reuss, 1855) (Table 1). A. granosus is redescribed here from the holotype in the Mu- seum fu¨ r Naturkunde (MfN) Berlin as a first step towards resolving the complex systematics of the Adelophthalmus species assemblage. Dur- ing this work we also discovered the mislabelled part of the holotype of the Czech species, A. za- drai Prˇibyl, 1952 in Berlin. We take the opportu- nity to redescribe this fossil here too, and discuss Fig. 1. Morphology of a generalised adelophthalmid euryp- its affinities in comparison to A. granosus. terid, but with proportions and ornament derived from Ade- lophthalmus granosus von Meyer, 1853 to form a plausible reconstruction of this species. Note the following diagnostic features for the genus: (a) the triangular, hinged ‘doublure Material lock’ anteriorly on carapace, (b) the circular, raised area con- taining the lateral eyes and ocelli, (c) the coarse, granular or- nament, (d) the short and laterally tapering first opisthoso- The holotype, and only known specimen, of Adelophthalmus mal segment and (e) the elongate telson. Adapted mainly granosus is held in the arthropod palaeontology collections from Van Oyen (1956). Total length of animal in life c. of the MfN under the repository number MB.A. 890. The 15 cm. counterpart was not described by Jordan & von Meyer (1854) and is presumably lost. The A. granosus specimen is preserved in a grey siltstone and, according to the original description, was found between layers of coal of Westphalian labelled as a type, but comparison with published descrip- C (= Moscovian) age. It retains much of its original convex- tions revealed that it is actually the part of the holotype of ity. Several patches on the carapace and mesosomal segments Adelopthalmus zadrai Prˇibyl, 1952 (see Systematics) of West- of the fossil are pyritised. A further specimen, MB.A. 889, phalian A (= Bashkirian) age. preserved flattened in a lignified coal, is labelled with what Both specimens were whitened with ammonium chloride appears to be an unpublished manuscript name. It was not and photographed with a Nikon 4500 Coolpix camera, # 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim http://museum-geo.wiley-vch.de Mitt. Mus. Nat.kd. Berl., Geowiss. Reihe 8 (2005) 5 (Figs 2A–B). Both were drawn with the help of a camera lu- E m e n d e d d i a g n o s i s : Medium-sized, streamlined euryp- cida (Figs 3A–B). General eurypterid terminology follows terids; carapace parabolic with narrow marginal rim and Tollerton (1989), but specific terminology for adelophthal- small, hinged triangular ‘locking’ mechanism anteriorly; inter- mids is introduced, mainly following, and translated from, marginal eyes reniform; ocelli between or slightly behind lat- Van Oyen (1956). eral eyes; prosomal appendages II–V Adelophthalmus-type; VI swimming leg of Adelophthalmus-type; metastoma oval; first opisthosomal segment of reduced length and tapering in Systematic palaeontology length laterally; midsection (and usually anterior and poster- ior) second order opisthosomal differentiation; genital oper- Order Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843 culum with spatulae; telson long and styliform; dense orna- ment of minute scales (emended from Størmer 1973). Family Adelophthalmidae Tollerton, 1989 R e m a r k s : Most authors have considered Jor- Type genus Adelophthalmus von Meyer, 1853 dan & von Meyer (1854) as the correct authors R e m a r k s : Tollerton (1989) raised this family of Adelophthalmus. The title page of the relevant for Parahughmilleria, Bassipterus, Adelophthal- issue of Palaeontographica bears the publication mus and Unionopterus, based on the presence of date 1856, but the contents page clearly lists the Adelophthalmus-type spiniferous (II–V) and “erste Lieferung” containing their paper as Janu- swimming appendages (VI) respectively. ary 1854. Here they named their fossil (p. 8) “Adelophthalmus (Eurypterus) granosus Jord.”, Genus Adelophthalmus von Meyer, 1853 leading some authors (e.g. Clarke & Ruedemann 1912; Brauckmann 1991; Brauckmann et al. Type species: Adelophthalmus granosus von Meyer, 1853. 2003) to accept Jordan (1854) alone as the cor- A d d i t i o n a l s p e c i e s : See Table 1. rect author and date. However, the name was Table 1 Chronological list showing the described species thought to belong to Adelophthalmus by Kjellesvig-Waering (1948), Van Oyen (1956), Plotnick (1983), Poschmann (in press) and this study, and the epoch(s) when found. Westphalian refers here to Bashkirian or Moscovian (not specified). The Rhenopterus records included in this list appear to be Devonian age adelopthal- mids. This will be addressed in detail in forthcoming papers and they are included here for completeness. Species Author(s) Status according to Van Oyen Age (ICS stage where known) (1956) Adelophthalmus granosus
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