Megacheira
Sign in to saveAlso known as megacheiran, great appendage arthropod
Megacheira (from Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas), meaning "great", and χείρ (kheír), meaning "hand", also historically great appendage arthropods) is an extinct class of predatory arthropods defined by their possession of spined "great appendages". Their taxonomic position is controversial, with studies generally either considering them stem-group euarthropods, or stem-group chelicerates. The homology of the great appendages to the cephalic appendages of other arthropods is also controversial. Uncontested members of the group were present in marine environments worldwide from the lower Cambrian to
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Morphology
- Taxonomy
- Relationship to other arthropods
- List of genera
- References
Megacheira (from Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas), meaning "great", and χείρ (kheír), meaning "hand", also historically great appendage arthropods) is an extinct class of predatory arthropods defined by their possession of spined "great appendages". Their taxonomic position is controversial, with studies generally either considering them stem-group euarthropods, or stem-group chelicerates. The homology of the great appendages to the cephalic appendages of other arthropods is also controversial. Uncontested members of the group were present in marine environments worldwide from the lower Cambrian to the upper Ordovician.
== Morphology ==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Megacheira” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.