A new fossil ricinuleid, Curculioides bohemondi n. sp., from the Pennsylvanian Energy Shale of Illinois is described from a single specimen. It is the largest ricinuleid species yet described, living or extinct. The Energy Shale represents a new geographic locale for fossil ricinuleids, a sparsely distributed group. The species is distinguished from other members within the genus by the possession of very large (0.09 mm) carapace tubercles at a very low (30 mm-2) density. Statistical analyses are performed on extant and fossil ricinuleids to determine how their tubercles change throughout ontogeny, culminating in the recovery of a new ontogenetically stable diagnostic character: the tubercle coefficient (a measure of the size of the tubercles relative to body size).
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26 April 2021
A new, giant ricinuleid (Arachnida, Ricinulei), from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois, and the identification of a new, ontogenetically stable, diagnostic character
Niall Whalen,
Paul Selden
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Journal of Paleontology
Vol. 95 • No. 3
May 2021
Vol. 95 • No. 3
May 2021