Myriacantherpestes

{{Short description|Extinct genus of millipedes}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Taxobox

| name = Myriacantherpestes

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Late Carboniferous}}

| image = Myriacantherpestes NMNH.jpg

| image_caption = M. hystricosus fossil, National Museum of Natural History

| regnum = Animalia

| phylum = Arthropoda

| classis = Diplopoda

| superordo = †Archipolypoda

| ordo = †Euphoberiida

| familia = †Euphoberiidae

| genus = †Myriacantherpestes

| genus_authority = Burke, 1979

| type_species = Acantherpestes ferox

| type_species_authority = Salter 1863

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = M. bradebirksi Burke 1979

M. clarkorum (Burke 1973)

M. excrescens (Janssen 1940)

M. ferox (Salter 1863)

M. hystricosus (Scudder 1890)

M. inequalis (Scudder 1890)

}}

Myriacantherpestes is an extinct genus of spiny millipedes from the Pennsylvanian subperiod of the Carboniferous period, known from fossils in Europe and North America.

Description

File:Euphoberia ferox.jpg

Like other Euphoberiids, Myriacantherpestes had prominent dorsal and lateral spines. Myriacantherpestes differs from other members of Euphoberiidae in part by having much longer lateral spines.{{cite journal|last=Burke|first=J.J.|title=A new millipede genus, Myriacantherpestes (Diplopoda, Archipolypoda), and Myriacantherpestes bradebirksi, new species, from the English UK Coal Measures|journal=Kirtlandia|year=1979|volume=30|pages=1–24|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/212107#page/9/mode/1up}}

Taxonomic history

Several species currently assigned to Myriacantherpestes were formerly in the genera Acantherpestes and Euphoberia. The species M. excrescens was originally described as a fossilized cycad seed.{{cite journal|last=Lemay|first=Stephen|author2=Hannibal, Joseph T.|title=Trigonocarpus excrescens Janssen, 1940, a supposed seed from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois, is a milliped (Diplopoda: Euphoberiidae)|journal=Kirtlandia|year=2002|volume=53|pages=37–40|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/212109#page/347/mode/1up}}

References