#venustulus

V is for...?

All of the V names in my Paleo Party! Are there any I'm missing?

The synziphosurines were ancient marine chelicerate arthropods that were traditionally thought to be early representatives of the horseshoe crab lineage. But more recent studies have shown them to occupy a slightly more basal position on the chelicerate evolutionary tree, instead being related to the common ancestor of sea scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids.

(Also horseshoe crabs might actually be part of the arachnids, closely related to ricinuleids!)

Venustulus waukeshaensis was one of the earliest known synziphosurines, living in what is now Wisconsin, USA during the early Silurian, about 436 million years ago. It grew to around 8cm long (~3.2") and had six pairs of appendages on the underside of its body, with the first pair modified into chelicerae and the rest being walking legs.

It also appears to have been blind, lacking any evidence of eyes despite its fossils being fairly well-preserved – suggesting it lived in conditions where vision wasn't much use, such as dark murky water or burrowing around in seafloor sediment.

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My Paleozoic is Purple!

Hurdia - Lunataspis - Marella

Dalmanites - Sacabambaspis - Cheirurus

Pterygotus - Waukesha Butterfly Animal - Venustulus

Coelacanthus - Estemmenosuchus - Stethacanthus

Ichthyostega - Meganeura - Schinderhannes bartelsi

Venustulus

Venustulus — рід синзіфосуринів, парафілетичної групи викопних хеліцерових членистоногих. Раніше Venustulus вважався частиною клади Prosomapoda. Скам’янілості єдиного типового виду, V. waukeshaensis, були виявлені у відкладеннях силурійського періоду у Вісконсині, США та описані у 2005 році. Venustulus є одним із небагатьох родів синзіфосурин, у яких викопні рештки зберегли докази наявності придатків.

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