Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:50:25.414Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bembicosoma re-examined: a xiphosuran from the Silurian of the North Esk Inlier, Pentland Hills, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2007

Lyall I. Anderson  and
Rachel A. Moore
Lyall I. Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Zoology, National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF, Scotland.
Rachel A. Moore
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, England.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Silurian arthropod Bembicosoma pomphicus Laurie, 1899 is re-studied in relation to other Palaeozoic chelicerate taxa. All three known specimens of Bembicosoma originate from the Silurian (late Llandovery) Eurypterid Bed of the Gutterford Burn Flagstones, Reservoir Formation, Pentland Hills, Scotland. Bembicosoma is removed from its previous tentative assignment to Eurypterida and re-assigned to Xiphosura. A morphological reconstruction of this taxon is presented for the first time. This work continues a reappraisal of the systematics of a number of taxa that belong within the synziphosurines, a loose grouping of early Palaeozoic chelicerate arthropods aligned with the Xiphosura (horseshoe crabs), but which have been mistakenly identified as eurypterids in the past. Bembicosoma is significant as it is one of the earliest known synziphosurines.

Keywords

ArthropodchelicerateEurypterid BedGutterford BurnLlandoverysynziphosurine
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 94 , Issue 3 , September 2003 , pp. 199 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)