Pentapantopus vogteli is a Devonian sea spider from the Hunsrück Slate of Germany.[1]
| Pentapantopus Temporal range:
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| Diagrammatic reconstruction of Pentapantopus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Pycnogonida |
| Genus: | †Pentapantopus Kühl, Poschmann and Rust, 2013 |
| Species: | †P. vogteli
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| Binomial name | |
| †Pentapantopus vogteli Kühl, Poschmann and Rust, 2013
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Description
editWhen Pentapantopus was first described, it was thought to have five pairs of legs (hence the name), which was used to support its affinity within Pantopoda (crown-group pycnogonids) [1] However, with the description of another specimen in 2024, this has been refuted in favour of the common arrangement of four pairs of legs.[2] The fossil has a likely movable elongate proboscis visible on the newer specimen, alongside the head being fused with the first trunk segment. The abdomen has four segments, and is rather short; segmentation is unclear. The trunk also has four segments, with lateral processes about as long as wide. The chelifores have three segments with at least one scape. The palps and ovigers have poorly preserved segmentation, although the former may have a terminal claw. The first pair of walking legs is unusual, due to having one less podomere than the other three. Each pair begins with an annulated coxa and ends with a terminal claw, with the posterior three having eight podomeres and the first having seven. The podomeres from the fifth segment onwards bear sparse pairs of long setae. Pentapantopus somewhat resembles the earlier Haliestes, which was used to infer various details not preserved on the former.[2]
Etymology
editThe name Pentapantopus derives from the word "penta" meaning "5” in reference to the belief that it had five pairs of walking legs, alongside "pantopus", a common suffix for sea spiders. The species name vogteli honours Hans Vogtel, a former slate worker who helped find numerous fossils during the process of roof-slate production. [1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Kühl, Gabriele; Poschmann, Markus; Rust, Jes (May 2013). "A ten-legged sea spider (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate (Germany)". Geological Magazine. 150 (3): 556–564. Bibcode:2013GeoM..150..556K. doi:10.1017/S0016756812001033.
- ^ a b Sabroux, Romain; Garwood, Russell J.; Pisani, Davide; Donoghue, Philip C. J.; Edgecombe, Gregory D. (14 October 2024). "New insights into the Devonian sea spiders of the Hunsrück Slate (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida)". PeerJ. 12: e17766. doi:10.7717/peerj.17766. PMC 11485130. PMID 39421419.