Drepanopterus

Drepanopterus is distinguished by its "fairly large" size, compound eyes with parallel axes on a subrectangular to subovate prosoma (head). All of its legs are walking legs; the first three pairs are short and powerful, with spines; the last two pairs are moderately long, ending in strongly curved terminal claw. The last leg reaches as far as the penultimate abdominal segment. The telson ranges from styliform to clavate. Drepanopterus date from the Silurian to the Upper Devonian periods. Whilst classified as the basalmost member of the Drepanopteridae, Drepanopterus also shares certain characteristics with the kokomopteroids (such as having a clavate telson). Drepanopterus also has certain characteristics otherwise only found within the Mycteroptidae; appendage IV was not used in food capture and the coxae are large, as in Megarachne. Appendage III also retains some Hughmilleria-type conical spines suggesting that Drepanopterus hunted larger invertebrate or vertebrate prey than its later relatives. == Species ==

Drepanopterus contains three valid species, with several others that historically have been assigned to it being recovered as outside of the genus. The species currently seen as valid species of the genus are: • Drepanopterus abonensis Simpson, 1951 — Devonian, England. • Drepanopterus odontospathus Lamsdell, 2012 — Devonian, Canada. • Drepanopterus pentlandicus Laurie, 1892 — Silurian, Scotland. Invalid or reassigned species are listed below: • "Drepanopterus" bembycoides Laurie, 1899 — Silurian, Scotland. A basal member of the suborder Eurypterina. • "Drepanopterus" lobatus Laurie, 1899 — Silurian, Scotland. Later recognised as a sexual dimorph of "D". bembycoides, as it is identical except for the lobate epimera. • "Drepanopterus" longicaudatus Clarke and Ruedemann, 1912 — Silurian, United States. Synonym of Kokomopterus. • "Drepanopterus" nodosus Kjellesvig-Waering and Leutze, 1966 — Silurian, United States. Undiagnostic holotype and paratype, a basal member of the suborder Eurypterina. • "Drepanopterus" ruedemanni O’Connell, 1916 — Ordovician, United States. A lithic clast. • "Drepanopterus" struvei O’Connell, 1916 — Ordovician, United States. Synonym of Vinetopterus. ==See also==