Archidesmus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of millipedes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil_range|Lower Devonian}}

| image = Archidesmus macnicoli 02.png

| image_caption = Archidesmus macnicoli fossil illustration, anterior end is towards the left.

| parent_authority = Scudder, 1885

| taxon = Archidesmus

| authority = Peach, 1882

| type_species = Archidesmus macnicoli

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• A. macnicoli
• A. loganensis (debated)

}}

Archidesmus is an extinct millipede genus from the Lower Devonian Old Red Sandstone of the United Kingdom. It is the only member of the taxonomic family Archidesmidae. Individuals were up to {{convert|5 |cm|in|abbr=on}} long, and had 60 to 80 body segments decorated with tubercles (bumps) on the upper surface, and most segments possessed wing-like keels (paranota) extending to the side. The type species Archidesmus macnicoli was described by British paleontologist Benjamin Peach in 1882.{{cite journal|author=Peach, B. N.|year= 1882|title= On some fossil myriapods from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire|journal= Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society|volume=7|pages=177–188|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/54634#page/185/mode/1up}} A second species, A. loganensis was also described by Peach{{cite journal|author=Peach, B. N. |year=1899|title= On some new myriapods from the Palaeozoic rocks of Scotland |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society|volume=14|pages=113–126|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16111199#page/125/mode/1up}} but its status as a valid species- or even a myriapod- is debated.{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Heather M.|author2=Anderson, Lyall I.|title=Morphology and taxonomy of Paleozoic millipedes (Diplopoda: Chilognatha: Archipolypoda) from Scotland|journal=Journal of Paleontology|year=2004|volume=78|issue=1|pages=169–184|doi=10.1666/0022-3360(2004)078<0169:MATOPM>2.0.CO;2|bibcode=2004JPal...78..169W }}

File:Archidesmus macnicoli 01.png