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Arachnids from the Carboniferous of Russia and Ukraine, and the Permian of Kazakhstan

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Abstract

New finds of Late Palaeozoic arachnids, based on three well-preserved carapaces from the Carboniferous of Russia and Ukraine and one complete, albeit poorly preserved, specimen from the Permian of Kazakhstan, are described. The spider genus Arthrolycosa is reported from the Late Carboniferous (Late Pennsylvanian: Kasimovian–Gzhelian) of Chunya in the Tunguska Basin of Siberia; it is the first find of a spider outside the Carboniferous tropics. Another fossil assigned to the same genus comes from the Late Carboniferous (Early Pennsylvanian: Bashkirian) of Kamensk–Shakhtinsky in the Donets Basin of Russia; it is probably the oldest fossil spider known. A thelyphonid (whip scorpion) carapace is described from the Late Carboniferous (Late Pennsylvanian: Kasimovian) of the adjacent Lugansk Province of the Donets Basin of Ukraine.

Kurzfassung

Neue Funde fossiler Spinnentiere werden basierend auf drei gut erhaltenen Carapaxen aus dem Karbon Russlands und der Ukraine und einer schlecht erhaltenen, kompletten Spinne aus dem Perm Kazakhstans beschrieben. Die Spinnengattung Arthrolycosa wird im Oberkarbon (Kasimovium-Gzhelium, spätes Pennsylvanium) von Chunya im Tunguska-Becken Sibiriens nachgewiesen. Ein weiteres Fossil, das derselben Gattung zugewiesen wird, stammt aus dem Oberkarbon (frühes Pennsylvanium: Bashkirium) von Kamensk–Shakhtinsky im Donez-Becken von Russland. Es handelt sich wahrscheinlich um die älteste bekannte Spinne. Der Carapax eines Geißelskorpions wird aus dem Oberkarbon (Kasimovium, spätes Pennsylvanium) von dem benachbarten Gebiet Lugansk des Donez-Beckens der Ukraine beschrieben.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Yulia V. Mosseichik (Geological Institute, Moscow), Dmitry V. Shaposhnikov (Kamensk–Shakhtinsky), and Alexander K. Shchegolev (Institute of Geological Sciences, Kiev) for providing information on fossil localities; Nikolay I. Udovichenko (University of Lugansk) for assistance in field work; and Roman A. Rakitov (PIN) for taking SEM micrographs. PAS is grateful to Peter J. Schwendinger (Natural History Museum, Geneva) and Hirotsugu Ono (National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan) for supplying specimens of modern mesotheles for comparative morphology. The visit by PAS to Berlin was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The work was supported by RFBR grants 10-04-01713 and 13-04-01839 to DES and KYE.

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  1. Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lindley Hall, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Paul A. Selden

  2. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya 123, 117647, Moscow, Russia

    Dmitry E. Shcherbakov & Kirill Yu. Eskov

  3. Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt University Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Jason A. Dunlop

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Correspondence to Paul A. Selden.

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Selden, P.A., Shcherbakov, D.E., Dunlop, J.A. et al. Arachnids from the Carboniferous of Russia and Ukraine, and the Permian of Kazakhstan. Paläontol Z 88, 297–307 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-013-0198-9

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