Myriacantherpestes is an extinct genus of spiny millipedes from the Pennsylvanian subperiod of the Carboniferous period, known from fossils in Europe and North America.
Myriacantherpestes Temporal range:
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M. hystricosus fossil, National Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification | |
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Genus: | †Myriacantherpestes Burke, 1979
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Type species | |
Acantherpestes ferox Salter 1863
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Species | |
M. bradebirksi Burke 1979 |
Description
editLike other Euphoberiids, Myriacantherpestes had prominent dorsal and lateral spines. Myriacantherpestes differs from other members of Euphoberiidae in part by having much longer lateral spines.[1]
Taxonomic history
editSeveral species currently assigned to Myriacantherpestes were formerly in the genera Acantherpestes and Euphoberia.[1] The species M. excrescens was originally described as a fossilized cycad seed.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b Burke, J.J. (1979). "A new millipede genus, Myriacantherpestes (Diplopoda, Archipolypoda), and Myriacantherpestes bradebirksi, new species, from the English UK Coal Measures". Kirtlandia. 30: 1–24.
- ^ Lemay, Stephen; Hannibal, Joseph T. (2002). "Trigonocarpus excrescens Janssen, 1940, a supposed seed from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois, is a milliped (Diplopoda: Euphoberiidae)". Kirtlandia. 53: 37–40.