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| 'Attercopus fimbriunguis' Fossil range: Devonian |
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| Attercopus fimbriungus (Shear et al, 1987) |
Attercopus fimbriunguis1 is the oldest known fossil of what appears to be a modern spider. The spider was originally described as a Trigonotarbidae and named Gelasinotarbus? fimbriunguis 1. Only in 1991, that species was transferred to Araneae and the genus Attercopus2 was described. It is thought to have lived 380 million years ago during the Devonian period, and to have been among the first significant land animals.
The position of the spinnerets in Attercopus is similar to the one found in the suborder Mesothelae, of which only one family survives to the present day. However, Attercopus was considered by Selden et al, 1991 as the sister-group of all other known spiders, based on characters of the spinnerets and patella-tibia joint of the walking legs. Most living spiders belong to the suborders Mygalomorphae or Araneomorphae.
Its name is taken from the English dialect word "attercop" (= "spider"), which came from Anglo-Saxon ator-copp = "poison-head".
References
- ^ a b Shear, W. A., Selden, P. A., Rolfe, W.D.I., Bonamo, P. M. & Grierson, J. D. (1987). "New terrestrial arachnids from the Devonian of Gilboa, New York." "American Museum Novitates" 2901:1–74.
- ^ Selden, P. A., Shear, W. A. & Bonamo, P. M. (1991). "A spider and other arachnids from the Devonian of New York, and reinterpretations of Devonian Araneae." "Palaeontology" 34:241–281.
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