The Arthromygalidae are an extinct family of

arachnid Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegar ...

s, possibly

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s placed in the family were all found in the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferou ...

, . They were considered by

Alexander Petrunkevitch Alexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch ( Russian: Александр Иванович Петрункевич, December 22, 1875 in Plysky near Kyiv, now Ukraine – March 9, 1964 in New Haven) was an eminent Russian arachnologist of his time. ...

to be "mesotheles", i.e. placed in the spider suborder

Mesothelae The Mesothelae are a suborder of spiders (order Araneae) that includes a single extant family, Liphistiidae, and a number of extinct families. This suborder is thought to form the sister group to all other living spiders, and to retain ancestral ...

. Petrunkevitch used the family for Carboniferous fossils he regarded as mesotheles but which lacked eyes (those with eyes were placed in the Arthrolycosidae). Paul A. Selden has shown the fossil specimens only have "the general appearance of spiders", with segmented abdomens (

opisthosoma The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma (cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects to ...

e), but no definite spinnerets.

Genera

Genera placed in the Arthromygalidae are shown below, together with the location of the fossils. * †'' Arthromygale'' Petrunkevitch, 1923 –

Rakovník Rakovník (, german: Rakonitz) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts Rakovník ...

(

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) * †'' Eolycosa'' Kušta, 1885 – Rakovník * †'' Geralycosa'' Kušta, 1888 – Rakovník * †'' Kustaria'' Petrunkevitch, 1953 – Rakovník * †'' Palaranea'' Frič, 1873 – Czech Republic * †'' Protocteniza'' Petrunkevitch, 1949 –

Coseley Coseley ( ) is a village in the north of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it is situated approximately north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton. Though it is a part o ...

(England) * †'' Protolycosa'' Roemer, 1865 –

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

Cévennes The Cévennes ( , ; oc, Cevenas) is a cultural region and range of mountains in south-central France, on the south-east edge of the Massif Central. It covers parts of the ''départements'' of Ardèche, Gard, Hérault and Lozère. Rich in geogra ...

(France) * †'' Rakovnicia'' Kušta, 1884 – Rakovník

References

Paleozoic arachnids

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...

Taxa named by Alexander Petrunkevitch {{paleo-spider-stub