Limb structure, affinity and diet of the Carboniferous ‘centipede’ Arthropleura

Abstract

SynopsisThe limb of Arthropleura is shown to be uniramous and not biramous as suggested by Waterlot and accepted by all subsequent authorities except Størmer. The functional significance of some of the limb features is apparent from comparison with living myriapods. The rosette, K- and B-plates are suggested to be sub-coxal sclerites and not limb segments, appendages or organs as previously maintained. New reconstructions of the limb and of the whole animal are presented. Arthropleura is here regarded as a member of a distinct class of Myriapoda, the Arthropleurida, which differs from all other myriapods in the large number of segments in the limb and in the presence of the rosette plate. A juvenile specimen of Arthropleura has lycopod fragments preserved as gut contents, proving that this creature was herbivorous and not carnivorous as suggested by Waterlot. This herbivorous habit is one of several features indicating parallel evolution of the Arthropleurida and the living polydesmid millipedes.

Lycopsid–arthropod associations and odonatopteran oviposition on Triassic herbaceous Isoetites

“…Crassispora, and ?Cristatisporites in numerous, small arthropodan coprolites that could be attributable to detritivory or herbivory. During the Middle Pennsylvanian in Euramerican wetland habitats there is evidence that the large, ground-dwelling myriapod, Arthropleura, consumed plant litter, including xylary tracheids identified as lycopsid in origin (Rolfe and Ingham, 1967), probably representing a detritivorous diet in habitats laden with fallen bark, tree stumps and other plant litter (Rolfe, 1985). By contrast, an arboreal herbivorous association is represented by a diaphanopterodean nymph, probably a species of Prochoroptera, with unaltered, entire, lycopsid spores as gut contents (Kukalová-Peck, 1987), possibly representing a major dietary mode for some palaeodictyopteroid taxa.…”

The evolutionary consequences of oxygenic photosynthesis: a body size perspective

“…Later authors inverted the argument, using the geochemical model predictions of high Carboniferous oxygen levels to argue for oxygen as a contributing cause of gigantism (Berner et al 2007;Dudley 1998;Graham et al 1995). Flying insects are the most widely cited Late Paleozoic giants, particularly dragonflies (Protodonata) with wingspans reaching 70 cm (Carpenter 1960;Shear and Kukalova-Peck 1990) and mayflies reaching 45 cm (Kukalova-Peck 1985), but other lineages appear to have exhibited gigantism as well, such as meter-long arthropleurid arthropods (Rolfe and Ingham 1967;Shear and Kukalova-Peck 1990) and marginal marine eurypterids, which have left tracks up to a meter in width (Whyte 2005). Gigantism in marine animals may have been unusually widespread at this time as well; marine eurypterids also exhibit very large sizes (Braddy et al 2008).…”

The development of early terrestrial ecosystems

“…Early evidence of the decomposer chain comes from coproli tes and gut contents. Lycopod tracheids have been found in the intestine of the giant Carboniferous myriapod Arthropleura (Rolfe & Ingham, 1967), which suggests they fed on the wood of fallen trees (Shear & Kukalov5-Peck, 1990). Smaller arthropleurids are also known from the Devonian of Gilboa (Shear & Kukalova-Peck, 1990) and Onteora (Selden& Shear, 1992), New York.…”