Arthrolycosidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Classis: Arachnida
Ordo: Araneae
Subordo: Mesothelae
Familia: † Arthrolycosidae
Genera: Arthrolycosa – Eocteniza
Name

Arthrolycosidae Fritsch, 1904
References

Frič, A. 1904. Palaeozoische Arachniden. A Frič, Prague, 85 pp.

Arthrolycosidae is an extinct family of arachnids, possibly spiders. Fossils placed in the family were found in the Carboniferous to Permian, 359 to 252 million years ago. They were considered by Alexander Petrunkevitch to be "mesotheles", i.e. placed in the spider suborder Mesothelae.[1] However, Paul A. Selden has stated they only have "the general appearance of spiders", with segmented abdomens (opisthosomae), but no definite spinnerets.[2] At least some of the specimens placed in the family in the genus Arthrolycosa are considered to be spiders, whereas Eocteniza is "rather problematic as a spider".[3]
Genera

Genera placed in the Arthrolycosidae as of 2015 are shown below, together with the location of the fossils.[1]

†Arthrolycosa Harger, 1874 – United States (Mazon Creek), Ukraine, Russia
†Eocteniza Pocock, 1911 – England (Coseley)

References

Dunlop, J.A.; Penney, D.; Jekel, D. (2015). "A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives" (PDF). World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
Selden, P.A. (1996), "First fossil mesothele spider from the Carboniferous of France" (PDF), Revue suisse de Zoologie, hors série: 585–596, retrieved 2016-03-18
Selden, Paul A.; Shcherbakov, Dmitry E.; Dunlop, Jason A. & Eskov, Kirill Yu. (2013), "Arachnids from the Carboniferous of Russia and Ukraine, and the Permian of Kazakhstan", Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 88 (3): 297–307, doi:10.1007/s12542-013-0198-9