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Extra
information:
Brachyopterus
is the oldest known eurypterid, known from marine strata
of early Late Ordovician age. Like many stylonurines it
was probably a scavenger. An important taxon, for many years
its exact position within the Stylonurina was uncertain
but it is now considered to be an early member of the Rhenopteridae,
a family that includes the bizarre german forms Alkenopterus
and Rhenopterus. Only a single Brachyopterus
specimen is known, held in the collections of the British
Geological Survey, however the specimen broke in transport
during the 1950s and was encased in yellow plastic to preserve
it. Unfortunately the plastic is rather opaque, making further
study of the specimen all but impossible.
Further
reading:
Størmer,
L. 1951. A new eurypterid from the Ordovician of Montgomeryshire,
Wales. Geological Magazine, 88,
409–422.
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