Palaeopentacheles
Genus of fossil polychelids
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Palaeopentacheles is an extinct, monospecific genus of decapods in the monogeneric family Palaeopentachelidae[2] that lived in what is now modern day Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg around 150 Ma.[1][5] It is known from fossils discovered in the Nusplingen Limestone and Solnhofen Limestone formations.
| Palaeopentacheles | |
|---|---|
| |
| Palaeopentacheles roettenbacheri | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Superfamily: | Eryonoidea |
| Family: | †Palaeopentachelidae Ahyong, 2009[2] |
| Genus: | †Palaeopentacheles von Knebel, 1907[3] |
| Species: | †P. roettenbacheri |
| Binomial name | |
| †Palaeopentacheles roettenbacheri | |
| Synonyms[4] | |
| |
Classification history
The type species, P. roettenbacheri, was initially placed in the genus Eryon upon its 1839 description by Georg zu Münster.[6] However, a 1907 study by Walther von Knebel would later move the species to its own genus, Palaeopentacheles.[7]
In 1923, a second species, P. ovalis, was described by Victor van Straelen.[8] However, in 1925, it was moved to its own genus, Willemoesiocaris, by the same author.[9]
A third species from the Oligocene, P. starri, was described in 2001.[10] Its assignment to the genus was tentative due to the poor condition its holotype was found in, and a later study revealed that the holotype was actually a moult, possibly from a nephropoid lobster.[11]
Palaeopentacheles was previously placed in Polychelidae, but a 2009 study showed that it lay outside the Coleiidae + Polychelidae clade, so Palaeopentacheles was instead placed in the new family Palaeopentachelidae.[12]
