Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

The early history and phylogeny of the chelicerates

  • Chapter
Arthropod Relationships

Part of the book series: The Systematics Association Special Volume Series ((SASS,volume 55))

Abstract

Chelicerata is one of the major arthropod groups, characterized by a body divided into two tagmata, prosoma and opisthosoma, while the name Chelicerata refers to the chelicerae, the chelate first pair of appendages. Chelicerates comprise the arachnids (spiders, scorpions, mites, etc.), the extinct eurypterids (sea scorpions) and the xiphosurans (horseshoe crabs). Among Recent groups the limits of the Chelicerata are well defined, i.e. arachnids and xiphosurans, though the position of pycnogonids (sea spiders) remains uncertain (King, 1973). Phylogenetic relationships within the Chelicerata remain unresolved (Weygoldt and Paulus, 1979; van der Hammen, 1989; Shultz, 1990). When fossil taxa are considered, the limits of the Chelicerata become less well constrained. This is especially true of various problematic arthropods: fossils such as aglaspidids (Raasch, 1939), chasmataspids (Caster and Brooks, 1956), Sanctacaris Briggs and Collins, 1988 and other Burgess Shale-type arthropods (see Conway Morris, 1992 for a review).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abele, L.G., Kim, W. and Felgenhauer, B.E. (1989) Molecular evidence for inclusion of the phylum Pentastomida in the Crustacea. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 6, 685–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D.T. (1973) Embryology and Phylogeny in Annelids and Arthropods, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, L.I. and Selden P.A. (1997) Opisthosomal fusion and phylogeny of Palaeozoic Xiphosura. Lethaia, 30, 19–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babcock, L.E. (1996) Early Cambrian chelicerate arthropod from China, in Sixth North American Paleontological Convention. Abstracts of Papers, (ed. J.E. Repetski), The Palaeontological Society, Special Publication No. 8, p. 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beall, B.S. and Labandeira, C.C. (1990) Macroevolutionary patterns of the Chelicerata and Tracheata, in Arthropod Paleobiology, Short Courses in Palaeontology, No. 3 (ed. S.J. Culver), The Palaeontological Society, pp. 257–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekleminshev, V.N. (1944) Osnovy sraynitelinoi anatomii bespozvonochnykh (Fundamentals of the comparative anatomy of invertebrates), Sovetskaya nauka, 1st edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergström, J. (1968) Eolimulus, a Lower Cambrian xiphosurid from Sweden. Geologiska Förenigens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 90, 489–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergström, J. (1971) Paleomerus — merostome or merostomoid. Lethaia, 4, 393–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergström, J. (1975) Functional morphology and evolution of xiphosurids. Fossils and Strata, 4, 291–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergström, J. (1979) Morphology of fossil arthropods as a guide to phylogenetic relationships, in Arthropod Phylogeny (ed. A.P. Gupta), Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, pp. 3–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergström, J., Stürmer, W. and Winter, G. (1980) Palaeoisopus, Palaeopantopus and Palaeothea, pycnogonid arthropods from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, West Germany. Paläontologishe Zeitschrift, 54, 7–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, D.E.G. and Collins, D.A. (1988) A Middle Cambrian chelicerate from Mount Stephen, British Columbia. Palaeontology, 31, 779–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, D.E.G. and Fortey, R.A. (1989) The early radiation and relationships of the major arthropod groups. Science, 246, 241–3.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, D.E.G., Bruton, D.L. and Whittington, H.B. (1979) Appendages of the arthropod Aglaspis spinifer (Upper Cambrian, Wisconsin) and their significance. Palaeontology, 22, 167–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, D.E.G, Fortey, R.A. and Wills, M.A. (1992) Morphological disparity in the Cambrian. Science, 256, 1670–3.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bristowe, W.S. (1971) The World of Spiders, 2nd edn, Collins, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruton, D.L. (1981) The arthropod Sidneya inexpectans, Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, B, 295, 619–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruton, D.L. and Whittington, H.B. (1983) Emeraldella and Leancholia, two arthropods from the Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, B, 300, 553–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caster, K.E. and Brooks, H.K. (1956) New fossils from the Canadian-Chazyan (Ordovician) hiatus in Tennessee. Bulletins of American Paleontology, 36, 153–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caster, K.E. and Kjellesvig-Waering, E.N. (1964) Upper Ordovician eurypterids of Ohio. Palaeontographica Americana, 4, 301–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caster, K.E. and Macke, W.B. (1952) An aglaspid merostome from the Upper Ordovician of Ohio. Journal of Paleontology, 26, 753–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J.Y., Edgecombe, G.D., Ramsköld, L. and Zhou, G.Q. (1995) Head segmentation in early Cambrian Fuxianhuia: implications for arthropod evolution. Science, 268, 1339–43.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chlupač, I. (1965) Xiphosuran merostomes from the Bohemian Ordovician. Sbornúk Geologickych Ved Praha, Rada P, 5, 7–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chlupač, I. (1988) The enigmatic arthropod Duslia from the Ordovician of Czechoslovakia. Palaeontology, 31, 611–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chlupač, I. and Havlúcek, V. (1965) Kodymirus n. g., a new aglaspid merostome of the Cambrian of Bohemia. Sborník Geologickych Ved Praha, Rada P, 6, 7–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, J.M. and Ruedemann, R. (1912) The Eurypterida of New York. Memoirs of the New York State Museum, Memoir 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway Morris, S. (1992) Burgess Shale-type faunas in the context of the ‘Cambrian explosion’: a review. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 149, 631–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl, F. (1913) Vergleichende Physiologie und Morphologie der Spinnentiere, Theil I, Jena.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubinin, V.B. (1962) Class Scorpionomorpha, in Fundamentals of Paleontology, Volume 9, Arthropoda, Tracheata, Chelicerata (ed. B.B. Rohdendorf), Osnovy paleontologii, 1991 English translation, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi, pp. 614–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldredge, N. (1974) Revision of the suborder Synziphosurina (Chelicerata, Merostomata), with remarks on merostome phylogeny. American Museum Novitates, 2543, 1–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedotov, D. (1925) On the relations between the Crustacea, Trilobita, Merostomata and Arachnida. Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, (1924), 383–408.

    Google Scholar 

  • Firstman, B. (1973) The relationship of the chelicerate arterial system to the evolution of the endosternite. Journal of Arachnology, 1, 1–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flower, R. (1968) Merostomes from a Cotter horizon of the El Paso group. New Mexico State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir, 22 (4), 35–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grasshoff, M. (1978) A model of the evolution of the main chelicerate groups. Symposium of the Zoological Society of London, 42, 273–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. (1862) A new crustacean from the Potsdam Sandstone. Canadian Naturalist, 7, 443–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, L. van der (1989) An Introduction to Comparative Arachnology, SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague.

    Google Scholar 

  • Handlirsch, A. (1914) Eine interessante Crustaceenform aus der Trias der Vogesen. Verhandlung der Kaiserlich Konlichen Zoologish—Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 64, 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesselbo, S.P. (1989) The aglaspidid arthropod Beckwithia from the Cambrian of Utah and Wisconsin. Journal of Paleontology, 63, 636–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesselbo, S.P. (1992) Aglaspidida (Arthropoda) from the Upper Cambrian of Wisconsin. Journal of Paleontology, 66, 885–923.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heymons, R. (1901) Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Scolopender. Zoologica, 13(33), 2–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeram, A.J. (1994) Scorpions from the Viséean of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland, with a revision of the infraorder Mesoscorpionina. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 84, 283–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, P.E. (1973) Pycnogonids, Hutchinson and Co., Ltd., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kjellesvig-Waering, E.N. (1986) A restudy of the fossil Scorpionida of the world. Palaeontographica Americana, 55, 1–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraus, O. (1976) Zur phylogenetischen Stellung und Evolution der Chelicerata. Entomologica Germanica, 3, 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lankester, E.R. (1881) Limulus, an arachnid. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 23, 504–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lankester, E.R. (1881) Limulus, an arachnid. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 23, 609–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lauterbach, K.-E. (1980) Schlüsselerignisse in der Evolution des Grundplans der Arachnata (Arthropoda). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg, 23, 163–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindquist, E.E. (1984) Current theories on the evolution of major groups of Acari and their relationships with other groups of Arachnida, with consequent implications for their classification, in Acarology VI (eds D.A. Griffiths and C.E. Bowman), Ellis Horwood Ltd, Chichester, pp. 28–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, S. (1870) The horse foot crab. American Naturalist, 4(5), 257–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNamara, K.J. and Trewin, N.H. (1993) A euthycarcinoid arthropod from the Silurian of Western Australia. Palaeontology, 36, 319–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Möberg, J.C. (1892) Om en nyupptäckt fauna i blok af kambrisk sandsten insamlade af Dr N.O. Holst. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 14, 103–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nieszkowski, J. (1859) Der Eurypterus remipes aus den obersihurischen Schichten der Insel Oesel. Archiv für Naturkunde der Liv- Est- und Kurlands Series 1, 2, 299–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novojilov, N. (1962) Class Merostomata, in Fundamentals of Paleontology, Volume 9, Arthropoda, Tracheata, Chelicerata (ed. B.B. Rohdendorf), Osnovy paleontologii, 1991 English translation, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi, pp. 591–613.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrunkevitch, A.I. (1949) A study of Palaeozoic Arachnida. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 37, 69–315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, J.W. (1993) A Late Devonian xiphosuran from near Parkes, New South Wales. Memoirs of the Association of Australian Palaeontologists, 15, 279–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pocock, R.I. (1893) On some points in the morphology of the Arachnida (s. s.) with notes on the classification of the group. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 61, 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pocock, R.I. (1901) The Scottish Silurian scorpion. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 44, 291–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raasch, G.O. (1939) Cambrian Merostomata, Special Papers of the Geological Society of America, No. 19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raw, F. (1957) Origin of chelicerates. Journal of Paleontology, 31, 139–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richter, R., and Richter, G. (1929) Weinbergina opitzi n.g., n. sp., ein Schwerttrager (Merost. Xiphos.) aus dem Devon (Rheinland). Senckenbergiana, 11, 193–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riek, E.F. (1964) Merostomoidea (Arthropoda, Trilobitomorpha) from the Australian Middle Triassic. Records of the Australian Museum, 26, 327–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savory, T.H. (1971) Evolution in the Arachnida, Merrow Publishing Co., Watford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selden, P.A. (1981) Functional morphology of the prosoma of Baltoeurypterus tetragonophthalamus (Fischer) (Chelicerata, Eurypterida). Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 72, 9–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selden, P.A. and Siveter, D.J. (1987) The origin of the limuloids. Lethaia, 20, 383–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selden, P.A. and White, D.E. (1984) A new Silurian arthropod from Lesmahagow, Scotland. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 30, 43–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharov.  A.G. (1966) Basic Arthropodan Stock with Special Reference to Insects, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shultz, J.W. (1990) Evolutionary morphology and phylogeny of Arachnida. Cladistics, 6, 1–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonetta, A. and Delle Cave, L. (1981) An essay in the comparative and evolutionary morphology of Palaeozoic arthropods. Atti dei Convengni Lincei, 49, 389–439.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sissom, W.D. (1990) Systematics, biogeography and paleontology, in The Biology of Scorpions (ed. G.A. Polis), Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp. 64–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starobogatov, Y.I. (1990) Sistema i filogeniya nizshikh khelitserovykh (analiz morfologii paleozoysikh grupp). (The systematics and phylogeny of the lower chelicerates (a morphological analysis of the Paleozoic groups)). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 1, 4–17 [English translation].

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockwell, S.A. (1989) Revision of the phylogeny and higher classification of scorpions (Chelicerata). PhD Thesis, University of California, Berkeley. Published by University Microfilms International, Ann Arbour, Michigan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Størmer, L. (1944) On the relationships and phylogeny of fossil and Recent Arachnomorpha. Skrifter utgitt av det Norske Videnskaps Academi i Oslo, I Matematisk-Naturvidenskapelig Klasse 1944 I, 5, 1–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Størmer, L. (1952) Phylogeny and taxonomy of fossil horseshoe crabs. Journal of Paleontology, 26, 630–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Størmer, L. (1955) Merostomata, in Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part P, Arthropoda 2 (ed. R.C. Moore), Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, pp. 4–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Størmer, L. (1959) Trilobitomorpha, in Treatise on Invertebrate Palaeontology, Part O, Arthropoda 1 (ed. R.C. Moore), Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, pp. 22–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Størmer, L. (1972) Arthropods from the Lower Devonian (Lower Emsian) of Alken an der Mosel, Germany, Part 2, Xiphosura. Senckenbergiana lethaea, 53, 1–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Størmer, L. (1974) Arthropods from the Lower Devonian (Lower Emsian) of Alken an der Mosel, Germany. Part 4, Eurypterida, Drepanopteridae and other groups. Senckenbergiana lethaea, 54, 354–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stürmer, W. and Bergström, J. (1978) The arthropod Cheloniellon from the Devonian Hunsrück late. Paläontologiche Zeitschrift, 52, 57–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stürmer, W. and Bergström, J. (1981) Weinbergina, a xiphosuran from the Devonian Hunsrück late. Paläontologiche Zeitschrift, 55, 237–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tollerton, V.P. (1989) Morphology, taxonomy and classification of the Order Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843. Journal of Paleontology, 63, 642–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Versluys, J. and Demoll, R. (1920) Die Vervandschaft der Merostomata mit den Arachnida und der anderen Abteilungen der Arthropoda. Proceedings Akademie Wetensschappen, Amsterdam, 23, 739–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walcott, C.D. (1912) Middle Cambrian Branchiopoda, Malacostraca, Trilobita and Merostomata. Cambrian Geology and Palaeontology, II. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 57, 145–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waterston, C.D. (1979) Problems of the functional morphology and classification in stylonuroid eurypterids with observations on the Scottish Silurian Stylonuroidea. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 70, 251–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weygoldt, P. and Paulus, H.F. (1979) Untersuchungen zur Morphologie, Taxonomie und Phylogeny der Chelicerata. Zeitschrift für Zoologie, Systematik und Evolutionsforschung, 17, 85–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weygoldt, P. and Paulus, H.F. (1979) Untersuchungen zur Morphologie, Taxonomie und Phylogeny der Chelicerata. Zeitschrift für Zoologie, Systematik und Evolutionsforschung, 17, 177–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, W.C., Cartwright, P. and Hayashi, C.Y. (1993) Arthropod phylogeny: a combined approach. Cladistics, 9, 1–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whittington, H.B. (1981) Rare arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, B, 292, 329–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, M.A. (1996) Classification of the Arthropod Fuxianhuia. Science, 272, 746–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, M.A., Briggs, D.E.G. and Fortey, R.A. (1994) Disparity as an evolutionary index: a comparison of Cambrian and Recent arthropods. Paleobiology, 20, 93–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, M.A., Briggs, D.E.G., Fortey, R.A. and Wilkinson, M. (1995) The significance of fossils in understanding arthropod evolution. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft, 88, 203–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, H. (1909) The Crustacea and arachnids, in The Cambridge Natural History (eds S.F. Harmer and A.E. Shipley), Cambridge, pp. 283–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, H. (1866–1878) Monograph of the British fossil Crustacea belonging to the order Merostomata. Palaeontographical Society, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Youchong, H. and Shaowu, N. (1981) Discovery of new marine family-Sinaglaspidae (Aglaspida) in Shanxi Province. Kexue Tongbao, 26(10), 911–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zakhvatkin, A.A. (1952) Razdeleniye kleshchei (Acarina) na otryady i ikh polozheniye v sisteme Chelicerata (Division of ticks (Acarina) into orders and their position in the system of Chelicerata). Parazitologiya Sbornik Instut Zoologii Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 14, 5–46.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    J. A. Dunlop & P. A. Selden

Authors
  1. J. A. Dunlop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. A. Selden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD, London, UK

    R. A. Fortey

  2. Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD, London, UK

    R. H. Thomas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Dunlop, J.A., Selden, P.A. (1998). The early history and phylogeny of the chelicerates. In: Fortey, R.A., Thomas, R.H. (eds) Arthropod Relationships. The Systematics Association Special Volume Series, vol 55. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4904-4_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4904-4_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6057-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4904-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation