Euphoberia armigera

Euphoberia armigera is a species of myriapod that lived until the Pennsylvanian epoch 332–318 million years ago. Many sources differentiate on its size and whether it is a millipede,[1] centipede[2] or even new class of myriapod.[3]

Euphoberia armigera
Temporal range: Pennsylvanian
Scientific classification
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E. armigera
Binomial name
Euphoberia armigera
Meek & Worthen, 1868

Size dispute

The species has what seem to be legitimate sources about its size saying it is no more than 10 cm (4 inches), like the Illinois State Museum.[4] Yet there are authors like George R. McGhee Jr. who mentioned E. armigera as reaching as long as 1 meter (39 inches) in his book When the Invasion of The Land Failed: The Legacy of Devonian Extinctions, on page 238, describing it as "individuals that attained one meter in length"[1] It is unknown why there are many sources stating various such a huge size difference. In some forms of media the genus is credited as the largest centipede.[5][6]

Centipede, Millipede, or new class taxon

E. armigera, like many other members in its genus, was armed with forked spines down each segment like a centipede.[7] However, it is consistently marked as an ancestor of or is a millipede [4] The ventral plates are shaped differently than what is seen in modern centipedes and millipedes. Men named Messers, Carr and Worthen describe how the ventral plates, the dorsal plate along with other features of Euphoberia to The Annals and Magazine of Natural History about the difference between ancestral and modern millipedes with the writer noting how Euphoberia is different from other Myriapods alike it. A whole specimen from the Geological Survey of Illinois show either a flat body with many segments and spines similar of today's centipedes or a specimen on its side with a row of spines that would have faced upwards while the creature was standing. If this is true than the D example from the Survey show a primitive, spiked millipede-like animal.[8]

References

  1. Jr, George R. McGhee (12 November 2013). When the Invasion of Land Failed: The Legacy of the Devonian Extinctions. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231160575 via Google Books.
  2. Fraser, Ian; Marsack, Peter (1 February 2011). A Bush Capital Year: A Natural History of the Canberra Region. Csiro Publishing. ISBN 9780643102248 via Google Books.
  3. "The Annals and Magazine of Natural History". 5th ser. v. 7 (1881). 1 January 1881. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Euphoberia armigera".
  5. "10 Prehistoric Bugs That Could Seriously Mess You Up". 14 January 2013.
  6. H., Petr (24 October 2014). "25 Mind Blowing Extinct Creatures You'll Be Glad Don't Exist".
  7. Scudder, Samuel Hubbard (1 January 1890). "The pretertiary insects.-v.2. The tertiary insects". Macmillan via Google Books.
  8. Survey, Illinois State Geological (1 January 1868). "Geological Survey of Illinois". State Journal Steam Press via Google Books.


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