archipolypoda

{{Short description|Extinct group of millipedes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil_range|Lochkovian|Pennsylvanian|earliest=Wenlock}}

| image = Acantherpestes major.jpg

| image_caption = Reconstruction of Acantherpestes major

| taxon = Archipolypoda

| authority = Scudder, 1882

| subdivision_ranks = Orders

| subdivision = Archidesmida

Cowiedesmida

Euphoberiida

Palaeosomatida

| synonyms = Macrosterni Fritsch, 1899
Palaeocoxopleura Verhoeff, 1928

}}

File:Archipolypoda Cross-section.jpg spines and two pair of legs.]]

Archipolypoda is an extinct group of millipedes known from fossils in Europe and North America and containing the earliest known land animals.{{cite journal|last=Selden|first=Paul|author2=Helen Read|title=The Oldest Land Animals: Silurian Millipedes from Scotland|journal=Bulletin of the British Myriapod & Isopod Group|year=2008|volume=23|pages=36–37|url=http://www.paulselden.net/uploads/7/5/3/2/7532217/seldenread2008.pdf}} The Archipolypoda was erected by Scudder (1882){{cite journal|last=Scudder|first=Samuel H.|title=Archipolypoda, a Subordinal Type of Spined Myriapods from the Carboniferous Formation|journal=Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History|year=1882|volume=3|issue=5|pages=143|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOUpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA141}} but redefined in 2005 with the description of several new species from Scotland.{{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|jstor=4094847|bibcode=2004JPal...78..169W |s2cid=131201588 }} Distinguishing characteristics include relatively large eyes with densely packed ocelli (sometimes interpreted as compound eyes), and modified leg pairs on the 8th body ring.{{cite journal|last=Sierwald|first=Petra|author2=Bond, Jason E.|title=Current Status of the Myriapod Class Diplopoda (Millipedes): Taxonomic Diversity and Phylogeny|journal=Annual Review of Entomology|year=2007|volume=52|issue=1|pages=401–420|doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.52.111805.090210|pmid=17163800}} Some species had prominent spines while others had a flattened appearance.{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Heather M.|author2=Daeschler, Edward B.|author3= Desbiens, Sylvain|title=New Flat-Backed Archipolypodan Millipedes from the Upper Devonian of North America|journal=Journal of Paleontology|year=2005|volume=79|issue=4|pages=738–744|doi=10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079[0738:NFAMFT]2.0.CO;2|jstor=4095046|s2cid=140190612 }}

Classification

The Archipolypoda as currently recognized consists of four orders,{{cite journal|last=Shear|first=William A.|author2=Edgecombe, Gregory D.|title=The geological record and phylogeny of the Myriapoda|journal=Arthropod Structure & Development|year=2010|volume=39|issue=2–3|pages=174–190|doi=10.1016/j.asd.2009.11.002|pmid=19944188|bibcode=2010ArtSD..39..174S }} many with monotypic families and genera, as well as five species of uncertain placement (incertae sedis).{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Heather M.|title=A new genus of Archipolypodan millipede from the Coseley Lagerstatte, Upper Carboniferous, UK|journal=Palaeontology|year=2005|volume=48|issue=5|pages=1097–1100|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2005.00496.x|bibcode=2005Palgy..48.1097W |doi-access=free}}

Archidesmida Wilson & Anderson, 2004

Cowiedesmida Wilson & Anderson, 2004

  • Cowiedesmidae Wilson & Anderson, 2004
  • Cowiedesmus eroticopodus Wilson & Anderson, 2004. Mid Silurian or Lower Devonian,{{Cite journal |last1=Suarez |first1=Stephanie E. |last2=Brookfield |first2=Michael E. |last3=Catlos |first3=Elizabeth J. |last4=Stöckli |first4=Daniel F. |date=2017-06-28 |title=A U-Pb zircon age constraint on the oldest-recorded air-breathing land animal |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=e0179262 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0179262 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5489152 |pmid=28658320 |bibcode=2017PLoSO..1279262S |doi-access=free }} Scotland.

Euphoberiida Hoffman, 1969

Palaeosomatida Hannibal & Krzeminski, 2005. Carboniferous, UK and Poland{{cite journal|last=Hannibal|first=Joseph T.|author2=Krzeminski, Wieslaw|title=A palaeosomatid millipede (Archipolypoda: palaeosomatida) from the Carboniferous (Namurian A) of Silesia, Poland|journal=Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne|year=2005|volume=74|issue=3|pages=205–217}}


Order incertae sedis

See also

{{Portal|Arthropods|Paleontology}}

References

{{Reflist|2}}