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The first diploaspidid (Chelicerata: Chasmataspidida) from North America (Silurian, Bertie Group, New York State) is the oldest species of Diploaspis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2016

JAMES C. LAMSDELL  and
DEREK E. G. BRIGGS
JAMES C. LAMSDELL*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
DEREK E. G. BRIGGS
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
*
†Author for correspondence: jlamsdell@amnh.org
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Abstract

A single specimen of a new species of the chasmataspidid Diploaspis Størmer, 1972 is described from the upper Silurian (Pridoli) Phelps Member of the Fiddlers Green Formation (Bertie Group) in Herkimer County, New York State, USA. Diploaspis praecursor sp. nov. is distinguished by the shape of the posterolateral margins of the buckler, which are drawn out into angular epimera, and by the lack of elongate tubercles on the postabdomen. This discovery increases the taxonomic diversity of the Bertie Group by extending the geographic extent of Diploaspididae into North America. D. praecursor pre-dates previously known species of Diploaspis by more than 10 million years.

Keywords

arthropodDiploaspididaeDiploaspis praecursorBertie GroupSilurian
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 154 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 175 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

‡

Current address: Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA

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