:en:Limuloides

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

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Limuloides

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Silurian}}

| image = Limuloides limuloides specimen In 60018.jpg

| image_caption = Specimen In 60018 of the species L. limuloides, located in the Natural History Museum in London

| image2 = 20200816 Limuloides limuloides.png

|image2_caption = Reconstruction

| display_parents = 3

| taxon = Limuloides

| authority = Woodward, 1865

| type_species = †Limuloides limuloides

| type_species_authority = Woodward, 1865

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• †?L. eriensis Clarke, 1924
• †L. limuloides Woodward, 1865
• †L. horridus Woodward, 1872
• †L. salweyi Woodward, 1872
• †L. speratus Woodward, 1872

| synonyms =

• Hemiaspis Woodward, 1865 (preoccupied)

}}

Limuloides 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}} Limuloides 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=}} Fossils of the genus have been discovered in deposits of the Silurian period in the United Kingdom and potentially in the United States. Limuloides is one of the two genera of the family Bunodidae, the other being the type genus Bunodes.{{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}}{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9JsWAQAAIAAJ|title=A hemiaspidan crustacean from the New York Silurian waterlimes|first=John Mason|last=Clarke|author-link=John Mason Clarke|journal=New York State Museum Bulletin|year=1924|volume=254|pages=119–120}}{{cite book|last1=Dunlop|first1=J. A.|title=World Spider Catalog|last2=Penney|first2=D.|last3=Jekel|first3=D.|publisher=Natural History Museum Bern|year=2020|pages=1–296|chapter=A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives|chapter-url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/resources/fossils/Fossils20.5.pdf}} Limuloides is characterized by a carapace with radiated ridges and serrated lateral regions, and an opisthosoma with rows of nodes.{{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. American Museum novitates ; no. 2543|hdl=2246/2745|url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/2745|language=en-US}} Limuloides was once thought to have lateral compound eyes on 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}}