The Arthromygalidae are an extinct family of

arachnid Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (biology), class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, camel spiders, Amblypygi, wh ...

s, possibly

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

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 preserve ...

s placed in the family were all found in the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

, . They were considered by

Alexander Petrunkevitch Alexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch (; December 22, 1875 – March 9, 1964) was a Russian arachnologist. From 1910 to 1939, he described over 130 spider species. One of his most famous essays was "The Spider and the Wasp." In it he uses effective ...

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

Mesothelae The Mesothelae are a suborder of spiders (order Araneae). , two extant families were accepted by the World Spider Catalog, Liphistiidae and Heptathelidae. Alternatively, the Heptathelidae can be treated as a subfamily of a more broadly circum ...

. 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 ...

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 (

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

) * †'' Eolycosa'' Kušta, 1885 – Rakovník * †'' Geralycosa'' Kušta, 1888 – Rakovník * †'' Kustaria'' Petrunkevitch, 1953 – Rakovník * †'' Palaranea'' Frič, 1873 – Czech Republic * †'' Protocteniza'' Petrunkevitch, 1949 – Coseley (England) * †'' Protolycosa'' Roemer, 1865 –

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) 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 8, ...

Cévennes The Cévennes ( , ; ) 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 geographical, ...

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

References

Paleozoic arachnids † Taxa named by Alexander Petrunkevitch {{paleo-arachnid-stub