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Megalograptus
PreꞒ
Pg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Order: †Eurypterida
Superfamily: †Carcinosomatoidea
Family: †Megalograptidae
Genus: †Megalograptus
Miller, 1874
Type species
†Megalograptus welchi
Miller, 1874
Species
Contents
• 1Description
o 1.1Size
o 1.2Morphology
o 1.3Coloration
• 2History of research
o 2.1Type material
o 2.2Additional fossils
• 3Classification
• 4Paleoecology
• 5See also
• 6References
Description[edit source]
Size[edit source]
The size of the largest and smallest specimens of M. ohioensis, the largest and best known species
of Megalograptus, compared to a human
Anatomical diagram of the upper side of M. ohioensis, featuring some of the body parts mentioned in the
text
The mesosoma of Megalograptus (the first six segments after the head) was
distinctly similar to the same segments in modern scorpions and different from the
mesosomas of other eurypterids. The body contracted after the last segment of the
mesosoma, rather than after the first segment of the metasoma (the last six
segments), which was otherwise typical for eurypterids. In most eurypterids, the
mesosoma was widest at the fourth or fifth segment, but in Megalograptus it was
widest at the third. The first segment of the mesosoma was considerably shorter than
the succeeding segments, which were otherwise approximately of the same length.
The last few segments of the body were slightly longer than the preceding segments.
The metastoma (a large plate located on the underside of the body)
of Megalograptus was roughly egg-shaped, unusually wide and broadly subtriangular
(almost triangular) in shape, differentiating it from the same structure in all other
eurypterids, where it was usually cordate (heart-shaped).[3]
The most unusual feature of Megalograptus was the structure formed by
the telson (the last division of the body) and the immediately preceding segment (the
pretelson). Megalograptus had, alongside the sharp and stout telson spike, two
paired and rounded blade-formed lobes, the so-called cercal blades. These were
attached beneath the telson, directly to the pretelson. The blades were capable of
articulation, in effect forming a large grasping organ. In other eurypterids, the telson
tends to be an undivided structure in the shape of a paddle or spike, meaning that
the cercal blades distinguish Megalograptus from nearly all other eurypterids.[3] Cercal
blades are only known from one other eurypterid, Holmipterus,[4] and are lacking in
the basal ("primitive") megalograptid Pentecopterus.[1] Taken together with the telson,
the telson–pretelson assemblage of Megalograptus forms a flattened structure,
superficially similar to the flattened telsons of many genera in the
superfamily Pterygotioidea.[3]
Megalograptus was ornamented with small scales of irregular size across its body.
On the carapace, they were flat and disc-like and scattered without any obvious
pattern. On the fifth pair of appendages, the scales were more elongated. On the
main body, the scales were rounded, raised and nearly elliptical in shape. Many of
the scales on the carapace, the fifth pair of appendages, the mesosoma and
metasoma and some on the appendages had holes in their center, suggesting that
they once supported bristles (stiff hairs). In life, Megalograptus may have had an
almost hirsute (hairy) appearance.[3]
Coloration[edit source]
M. ohioensis, depicted with bristles and its inferred dark brown and black life coloration, per its 1964
description by Caster and Kjellesvig-Waering.
The M. welchi type material; a "walking leg" (top), a fragmentary "walking leg" (bottom right) and a
postabdominal segment (bottom left) (left) and the same fossils illustrated by Miller in 1874 as remains of
a graptolite, covered in "polyp cells" (right)
The fragmentary fossil type material of M. alveolatus, originally assigned to the genus Ctenopterus
Classification[edit source]
M. ohioensis (left) compared to the earliest and basalmost known member of
the Megalograptidae, Pentecopterus decorahensis (right)
Mixopteridae
Lanarkopterus dolichoschelus
Mixopterus kiaeri
Mixopterus multispinosus
Carcinosomatidae
Holmipterus suecicus
Rhinocarcinosoma vaningeni
Carcinosoma newlini
Carcinosoma libertyi
Eusarcana acrocephalus
Eusarcana scorpionis
Paleoecology[edit source]
Simplified reconstruction of the telson-pretelson assemblage of M. ohioensis, possibly used for grasping,
viewed from below (left) and above (right)
References[edit source]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Lamsdell, James C.; Briggs, Derek E. G.; Liu, Huaibao P.; Witzke,
Brian J.; McKay, Robert M. (2015). "The oldest described eurypterid: a giant Middle
Ordovician (Darriwilian) megalograptid from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa". BMC
Evolutionary Biology. 15: 169. doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0443-9. ISSN 1471-
2148. PMC 4556007. PMID 26324341.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k Lamsdell, James C.; Braddy, Simon J. (2009). "Cope's rule
and Romer's theory: patterns of diversity and gigantism in eurypterids and Palaeozoic
vertebrates". Biology Letters. 6 (2): 265–
269. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0700. PMC 2865068. PMID 19828493. Supplementary
information
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah aiCaster, Kenneth E.;
Kjellesvig-Waering, Erik N. (1964). "Upper Ordovician eurypterids of
Ohio". Paleontological Research Institution. 4: 301–342.
4. ^ Kjellesvig-Waering, Erik N. (1979). "Eurypterids" (PDF). In Laufeld, Sven; Skoglund,
Roland (eds.). Lower Wenlock faunal and floral dynamics – Vattenfallet section,
Gotland (PDF). Sveriges geologiska undersökning: Avhandlingar och uppsatser. pp. 121–
136. ISBN 978-9-171-58170-9.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Kjellesvig-Waering, Erik N. (1958). "Some Previously Unknown
Morphological Structures of Carcinosoma newlini (Claypole)". Journal of
Paleontology. 32 (2): 295–303. JSTOR 1300736.
6. ^ Miller, Samuel Almond (1874). "Notes and descriptions of Cincinnatian group
fossils". Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science. 1: 343–351.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Foerste, August (1912). "Megalograpturs welchi, S. A. Miller".
In Clarke, John M.; Ruedemann, Rudolf (eds.). The Eurypterida of New York. University of
California Libraries. ISBN 978-1-125-46022-1.
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of Science. s4-39 (233): 551–554. Bibcode:1915AmJS...39..551S. doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-
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eurypterids: implications for eurypterid palaeoecology, diversity and evolution". Earth and
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11. ^ Stott, Christopher A.; Tetlie, O. Erik; Braddy, Simon J.; Nowlan, Godfrey S.; Glasser,
Paul M.; Devereux, Matthew G. (2005). "A New Eurypterid (Chelicerata) from the Upper
Ordovician of Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada". Journal of Paleontology. 79 (6): 1166–
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12. ^ Jump up to:a b c Tetlie, O. Erik (2007). "Distribution and dispersal history of Eurypterida
(Chelicerata)" (PDF). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 252 (3–4):
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13. ^ Braddy, Simon J.; Tollerton, Victor P.; Racheboeuf, Patrick R.; Schallreuter, Roger
(2004). "25. Eurypterids, Phyllocarids, and Ostracodes". In Webby, Barry; Paris,
Florentin; Droser, Mary; Percival, Ian (eds.). The Great Ordovician Biodiversification
Event. Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/webb12678. ISBN 978-0-231-50163-7.
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family Carcinosomatidae". Zoosystematics and Evolution. 88 (1): 19–
24. doi:10.1002/zoos.201200003. ISSN 1860-0743.
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Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843". Journal of Paleontology. 63 (5): 642–
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