Britopygus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of arachnids}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{Geological age|Aptian}}

| image = Simplified representations of Britopygus weygoldti.png

| image_caption = Simplified representation

| genus = Britopygus

| parent_authority = Dunlop and Martill, 2002

| species = weygoldti

| authority = Dunlop and Martill, 2002

}}

Britopygus is an extinct genus of whip spider that lived in Brazil (Crato Formation) during the Early Cretaceous epoch.

Taxonomy

The genus is known from a single species, Britopygus weygoldti. Although it bears similarity to members of the extant family Charinidae, its placement in this clade is not beyond dispute{{Cite journal |last1=Dunlop |first1=Jason A. |last2=Martill |first2=David M. |date=September 2001 |title=The first whipspider (Arachnida: Amblypygi) and three new whipscorpions (Arachnida: Thelyphonida) from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/earth-and-environmental-science-transactions-of-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/abs/first-whipspider-arachnida-amblypygi-and-three-new-whipscorpions-arachnida-thelyphonida-from-the-lower-cretaceous-crato-formation-of-brazil/E67FF5C152ABC59ECF36A266928C7991 |journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences |language=en |volume=92 |issue=3 |pages=325–334 |doi=10.1017/S0263593300000262 |issn=0263-5933 |access-date=15 September 2024 |via=Cambridge Core}} and more recent sources place the genus in Phrynidae.{{cite journal |last1=Garwood |first1=R. J. |last2=Dunlop |first2=J. A. |last3=Knecht |first3=B. J. |last4=Hegna |first4=T. A. |date=December 2017 |title=The first whipspider (Arachnida: Amblypygi) and three new whipscorpions (Arachnida: Thelyphonida) from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=105 |doi=10.1186/s12862-017-0931-1 |doi-access=free |pmid=28431496 |pmc=5399839 }}

References