''Palaeocharinus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of extinct trigonotarbid arachnids known from the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

of western Europe. The genus was first found and described in the

Rhynie chert The Rhynie chert is a Lower Devonian Sedimentary rock, sedimentary deposit exhibiting extraordinary fossil detail or completeness (a Lagerstätte). It is exposed near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; a second unit, the Windyfield ...

in the 1920s by Arthur Stanley Hirst and S. Maulik. The family to which the genus belongs may be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

Species

* ''Palaeocharinus calmani'' (Hirst, 1923) –

Early Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three Epoch (geology), epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian Series (stratigraphy), series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pr ...

, Scotland * ''Palaeocharinus hornei'' (Hirst, 1923) – Early Devonian, Scotland * ''Palaeocharinus kidstoni'' (Hirst, 1923) – Early Devonian, Scotland * ''Palaeocharinus rhyniensis'' (Hirst, 1923) – Early Devonian, Scotland * ''Palaeocharinus scourfieldi'' (Hirst, 1923) – Early Devonian, Scotland * ''Palaeocharinus tuberculatus'' (Fayers, Dunlop & Trewin, 2005) – Early Devonian, Scotland

References

Trigonotarbids Devonian arachnids Devonian arthropods of Europe Devonian Scotland Prehistoric life of Europe Taxa named by Arthur Stanley Hirst Early Devonian genera Early Devonian animals of Europe {{paleo-arachnid-stub