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Palaeothele
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Palaeothele
Temporal range: Stephanian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Mesothelae
Genus: Palaeothele
Species:
P. montceauensis
Binomial name
Palaeothele montceauensis
(Selden, 1996)[1]

Palaeothele is an extinct genus of mesothele spiders, with only one known species Palaeothele montceauensis.[1] Two fossils were found at Montceau-les-Mines, France, in ironstone concretion deposits of Late Carboniferous (Stephanian) age, about 304 to 299 million years ago.[2]

Taxonomy

[edit]

The genus was first named as Eothele by Paul A. Selden in 1996. However, this name had already been used for a Cambrian brachiopod, so in 2000, Selden proposed the replacement name Palaeothele. Palaeothele is derived from the Greek παλαιός, "ancient", and θηλή, "nipple" – a common ending for spider names, referring to their spinnerets.[3] The species name montceauensis refers to the location where the fossils were found.[2]

Phylogeny

[edit]

In 1996, Selden suggested the relationships shown in the cladogram below. (At the time, Attercopus was thought to be a spider; it is now considered to belong to a related but separate group, the Uraraneida.) Palaeothele is shown as sister to the modern genus Heptathela since they both have "tracheal sacs", structures adjacent to the posterior book lungs.[2]

Attercopus (uraraneid)

Araneae

Opisthothelae (non-mesothele spiders)

Mesothelae

Liphistius (modern mesothele spiders)

Heptathela (modern mesothele spiders)

Palaeothele

References

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