:en:Bunodes

{{Short description|Genus of horseshoe crab relatives}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Bunodes

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Silurian}}

| image = 20200922 Bunodes lunula.png

| image_caption = Restoration of B. lunula

| display_parents = 3

| taxon = Bunodes

| authority = Eichwald, 1854

| type_species = †Bunodes lunula

| type_species_authority = Eichwald, 1854

| synonyms =

• Exapinurus Nieszkowski, 1859

}}

Bunodes is a genus of synziphosurine, a paraphyletic group of fossil chelicerate arthropods.{{Cite journal|last1=Bicknell|first1=Russell D. C.|last2=Pates|first2=Stephen|date=2020|title=Pictorial Atlas of Fossil and Extant Horseshoe Crabs, With Focus on Xiphosurida|journal=Frontiers in Earth Science|language=en|volume=8|page=98|doi=10.3389/feart.2020.00098|bibcode=2020FrEaS...8...98B|issn=2296-6463|doi-access=free}} Bunodes was regarded as part of the clade Planaterga.{{Cite journal|last1=Selden|first1=Paul A.|last2=Lamsdell|first2=James C.|last3=Qi|first3=Liu|title=An unusual euchelicerate linking horseshoe crabs and eurypterids, from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of Yunnan, China|url=https://www.academia.edu/14633144|journal=Zoologica Scripta|year=2015|language=en|volume=44|issue=6|pages=645–652|doi=10.1111/zsc.12124|s2cid=55264483|issn=0300-3256|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Lamsdell|first1=James C.|last2=Briggs|first2=Derek E. G.|last3=Liu|first3=Huaibao P.|last4=Witzke|first4=Brian J.|last5=McKay|first5=Robert M.|date=2015|title=A new Ordovician arthropod from the Winneshiek Lagerstätte of Iowa (USA) reveals the ground plan of eurypterids and chasmataspidids|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282127302|journal=The Science of Nature|language=en|volume=102|issue=9–10|pages=63|doi=10.1007/s00114-015-1312-5|pmid=26391849|bibcode=2015SciNa.102...63L|s2cid=8153035|issn=0028-1042}}{{Cite journal|last1=Bicknell|first1=Russell D. C.|last2=Lustri|first2=Lorenzo|last3=Brougham|first3=Tom|date=2019-12-01|title=Revision of "Bellinurus" carteri (Chelicerata: Xiphosura) from the Late Devonian of Pennsylvania, USA|journal=Comptes Rendus Palevol|language=en|volume=18|issue=8|pages=967–976|doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2019.08.002|issn=1631-0683|doi-access=|bibcode=2019CRPal..18..967B }} Fossils of the single and type species, B. lunula, have been discovered in deposits of the Silurian period in Ludlow, England (in the United Kingdom). Bunodes is the type genus of the family Bunodidae, the other genera of the same family being Limuloides.{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/resources/fossils/Fossils20.5.pdf|title=World Spider Catalog|last1=Dunlop|first1=J. A.|last2=Penney|first2=D.|last3=Jekel|first3=D.|publisher=Natural History Museum Bern|year=2020|chapter=A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives|pages=1–296}}{{cite journal|last=Lamsdell|first=James C.|year=2013|title=Revised systematics of Palaeozoic 'horseshoe crabs' and the myth of monophyletic Xiphosura|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=167|issue=1|pages=1–27|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00874.x|issn=0024-4082|doi-access=free}}

There are 64 direct children of Bunodes.

Bunodes is characterized by a vaulted carapace with radiated hump-like ridges.{{Cite journal|last1=Eldredge|first1=Niles|last2=Smith|first2=LeGrande|date=1974|title=Revision of the suborder Synziphosurina (Chelicerata, Merostomata) : with remarks on merostome phylogeny |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=2543|hdl=2246/2745|url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/2745|language=en-US}} Within the 10-segmented opisthosoma, the first opisthosomal tergite is greatly reduced and always covered by the posterior region of preceding carapace, while the second tergite is significantly well-developed. the last 3 opisthosomal segments specialized into a narrow postabdomen and lacking tergopleurae (lateral extension of tergites). Tubercles of various sizes covering most of the dorsal surface of both carapace and tergites. Similar to Limuloides, Bunodes was once thought to have lateral eyes on the second pair of radiated ridges of its carapace, but later investigation did not find any evidence of it.{{Cite journal|last1=Bicknell|first1=Russell D. C.|last2=Amati|first2=Lisa|last3=Ortega-Hernández|first3=Javier|date=2019-11-14|title=New insights into the evolution of lateral compound eyes in Palaeozoic horseshoe crabs|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335016132|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|language=en|volume=187|issue=4|pages=1061–1077|doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz065|issn=0024-4082}}