Nineteenth century collections of Pterygotus anglicus Agassiz (Chelicerata; Eurypterida) from the Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada

Abstract

The Devonian fauna from the Campbellton Formation of northern New Brunswick was discovered in 1881 at the classic locality in Campbellton. About a decade later A.S. Woodward at the British Museum (Natural History) (now the Natural History Museum, London) acquired specimens through fossil dealer R.F. Damon. Woodward was among the first to describe the fish assemblage of ostracoderms, arthrodires, acanthodians and chondrichthyans. At the same time the museum also acquired specimens of a large pterygotid eurypterid. Although the vertebrates received considerable attention, the pterygotids at the Natural History Museum, London are described here for the first time. The first pterygotid specimens collected in 1881 by the Geological Survey of Canada were later identified by Clarke and Ruedemann in 1912 as Pterygotus atlanticus, although they suggested it might be a variant of Pterygotus anglicus Agassiz. An almost complete pterygotid recovered in 1994 from the Campbellton Formation at a new locality in Atholville, less than two kilometres west of Campbellton, has been identified as P. anglicus Agassiz. Like the specimens described by Clarke and Ruedemann, the material from the Natural History Museum, London is herein referred to P. anglicus.
 
 RÉSUMÉ
 
 La faune dévonienne de la Formation de Campbellton dans le Nord du Nouveau-Brunswick a été découverte en 1881 à l’emplacement classique de Campbellton. Environ une décennie plus tard, A. S. Woodward, du British Museum (Histoire naturelle) (maintenant le Natural History Museum de Londres) a fait l’acquisition de spécimens par l’entremise du négociant de fossiles R. F. Damon. Woodward a figuré parmi les premiers à décrire l’assemblage de poissons d’ostracodermes, d’arthrodires, d’acanthodiens et de chondrichthyens. Le musée a également fait en même temps l’acquisition de spécimens d’un euryptéridé ptérygotide de fortes dimensions. Même si les vertébrés ont bénéficié d’une attention considérable, les ptérygotides du Natural History Museum de Londres sont décrits aux présentes pour la première fois. Les premiers spécimens de ptérygotides recueillis en 1881 par la Commission géologique du Canada ont ultérieurement été identifiés par Clarke et Ruedemann en 1912 en tant que Pterygotus atlanticus, bien que les chercheurs aient avancé qu’il pourrait s’agir d’une variante du Pterygotus anglicus Agassiz. On a récupéré en 1994 un ptérygotide presque complet de la Formation de Campbellton dans un nouvel emplacement situé à Atholville, à moins de deux kilomètres à l’ouest de Campbellton, lequel a été identifié en tant que P. anglicus Agassiz. À l’instar des spécimens décrits par Clarke et Ruedemann, l’article du Natural History Museum de Londres est cité aux présentes à titre de P. anglicus.

Biomechanical analyses of pterygotid sea scorpion chelicerae uncover predatory specialisation within eurypterids

“…3D reconstructions of the Acutiramus bohemicus , Erettopterus bilobus , Jaekelopterus rhenaniae , and Pterygotus anglicus chelicerae (fixed and free rami) were rendered in Zbrush (Pixologic Inc, Los Angeles, CA, USA). Reconstructions were informed by examining select fossils and published high resolution images of chelicerae ( Størmer, 1936 ; Waterston, 1964 ; Selden, 1984 ; Chlupáč, 1994 ; Poschmann & Franke, 2006 ; Poschmann & Tetlie, 2006 ; Miller, 2007a , 2007b ; Braddy, Poschmann & Tetlie, 2008 ; Lomax, Lamsdell & Ciurca, 2011 ; Kennedy, Miller & Gibling, 2012 ; Table S4 ). These specimens permitted the modelling of chelicerae with anatomically correct dimensions in lateral view.…”

The Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada: paleoenvironments in an important Early Devonian terrestrial locality

“…Facies St commonly has an erosional base, and occasionally contains scattered pebbles, while facies Fl shows some weak currentripple lamination. Facies Fm and Sm are broadly lenticular units that include beds with shark spines, placoderm plates, eurypterid fragments, and scattered plant fossils up to 5 cm in length (Miller 1996(Miller , 2007a(Miller , 2007b. Nearly all beds contain abundant comminuted plant material.…”

“…1). This formation has long been of interest to paleontologists due to its rich assemblage of fossilized fish (Whiteaves 1881;Traquair 1890;Woodward 1892;Burrow et al 2008;Turner and Miller 2008), invertebrates (Jones 1889;Miller 1996Miller , 2007aMiller , 2007b, and plants (Dawson 1871; Andrews et al 1974Andrews et al , 1975Gensel and Albright 2006). Strata from this formation host the oldest articulated chondrichthyan (Miller et al 2003), early terrestrial macroarthropods (including two myriapods and the earliest airbreathing scorpion; Shear et al 1996, Wilson 2006, and 14 genera of plants representing the rhyniopsids, lycopsids, trimerophytes, and zosterophyllopsids, as well as several plants of uncertain affinity (Gensel and Andrews 1984;Gensel and Kasper 2005).…”

Spines of the stem chondrichthyanDoliodus latispinosus(Whiteaves) comb. nov. from the Lower Devonian of eastern Canada

“…They are composed of a steeply inclined basal coarse breccia overlain by a succession of interbedded sandstones and shales (Turner and Miller 2006). A total thickness of about 12 m is exposed (Miller 2007, fig. 2).…”