Rhenopteridae
Sign in to saveThe Rhenopteroidea is an extinct superfamily of eurypterids, an extinct group of chelicerate arthropods commonly known as "sea scorpions". The superfamily is one of four superfamilies classified as part of the suborder Stylonurina. Previously considered to consist only of the family Rhenopteridae, the superfamily was in 2025 divided into three families: Rhenopteridae, Brachyopteridae, and Brachyopterellidae.
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Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Description
- Evolutionary history
- Systematics and genera
- References
The Rhenopteroidea is an extinct superfamily of eurypterids, an extinct group of chelicerate arthropods commonly known as "sea scorpions". The superfamily is one of four superfamilies classified as part of the suborder Stylonurina. Previously considered to consist only of the family Rhenopteridae, the superfamily was in 2025 divided into three families: Rhenopteridae, Brachyopteridae, and Brachyopterellidae.
The Rhenopteroidea contains one of the earliest known eurypterids, Brachyopterus, known from the Middle Ordovician (also the sister taxon to all other rhenopteroids), and is the most primitive clade of stylonurine eurypterids. The last known members of the family went extinct during the Early Devonian.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rhenopteridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.