Maiocercus

Maiocercus celticus is a species of early trigonotarbid arachnid from the Upper Carboniferous of Westhoughton, Lancashire, UK. The species was first described in 1902, with a "new species" being described in 1911 (M. orbicularis) which has been proven as being a junior synonym of M. celticus.^[1][2]

Maiocercus Temporal range: 310 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossil of Maiocercus celticus located in Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, Brussels, Belgium.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	†Trigonotarbida
Family:	†Anthracomartidae
Genus:	†Maiocercus Pocock, 1902
Species:	†M. celticus
Binomial name
†Maiocercus celticus (Pocock, 1902)
Synonyms
Brachypyge celtica Pocock, 1902 Maiocercus orbicularis Gill, 1911

M. celticus is the type species of the genus Maiocercus.^[3]

Artist's reconstruction of M. celticus, showing 5 rows of dorsal plates

Originally zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock compared M. celticus to Brachypyge, with later evidence showing that Brachypyge had "opisthosoma which were much longer than wide; with the pleural laminæ of the second and third pleura-bearing terga being inclined slightly backwards" (Brachypyge) with Maiocercus having the "opisthosoma much wider than long; the pleural laminæ of the first, second, third, and fourth sterna being inclined slightly forwards".^[4]

The original drawing which showed Maiocercus described a pitting on the underside of the slightly forwarded laminæ, with a non-uniform concavity on the outer margins of them. The concavity is most well-marked in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth somites, with the opposite happening on the second, third and fourth somites.^[5]

See also

• Trigonotarbida

• Anthracomartidae