Arthropleura

Credit: Vladislav Egorov on DeviantArt.

*Arthropleura* is an extinct genus of massive millipedes that lived in North America and Europe from the Early to Late Carboniferous.

## Description

*Arthropleura* is known by its massive size The insects large flattened body consists of about 30 segments, each covered by two side plates and one center plate. This is 8:6 when put into a ratio, similar to some modern millipedes. Fossil trackways of *Arthropleura* are known. They take the shape of long parallel rows made-up of small paw prints. *Arthropleura* moved quickly along the forest floor, often preserved swerving past rocks, trees and other obstacles. One trackway was named *Diplichnites*. Trackways up to 50 centimeters long attributed to *Arthropleura* are found in Joggins, Nova Scotia. In 2021, a bodily fragment of *Arthropleura* from the Stainmore Formation was described, it was 75 centimeters long. This would have been from an individual 2.7 meters long and 50 kilograms heavy.

It bore a triangular telson, with a collum anterior plate on the head and eyes under the plate. Diplopod legs with a ratio of 8:6 legs-per-segment estimated by Brauckmann, which would make 29 segments and 39 legs, were present. The head is often obscured by preservation means so much of the face is unknown, including mouth, antennae and eyes. However, H.M. Wilson suggests it was closely related to *Microdecemplex*, so the face can be inferred. However, Brauckmann finds this unlikely, instead finding it indeterminate and likely to be closer related to the living brtistly millipedes.

## Paleobiology

*Arthropleura* is often portrayed as an active carnivorous predator, usually taking the shape as an upscaled *Scolopendra*. However, *Arthropleura* was herbivorous, like many millipedes, rather than an active predator. No fossils of *Arthropleura* mouthparts are known, so it has been concluded that *Arthropleura* did not bear very sclerotized or powerful mouthparts, because they would have peen preserved at least once. Some fossils preserve lycopod fragments and pteridophyte spores in their guts and coprolites.

## Species

* *A. armata*
* *A. britannica*
* *A. cristata*
* *A. enodis*
* *A. maillieuxi*
* *A. mammata*
* *A. punctata*

## Synonyms

* *Diplichnites?*
* *A. affinis*
* *A. moyseyi*
* *A. zeilleri*

## Extinction

*Arthropleura* fell into extinction soon after the pass of the Carboniferous period, when the moist climate it inhabited dried, causing the mass desertification in the Permian.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropleura
2. ↑ https://phys.org/news/2021-12-millipedes-big-cars-roamed-northern.html
3. ↑ https://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/early/2021/11/19/jgs2021-115
4. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350580197\_First\_occurrence\_of\_Arthropleura\_armata\_Myriapoda\_in\_the\_Moscovian\_Carboniferous\_of\_SW\_Sardinia\_Italy
5. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257768383\_Euramerican\_Late\_PennsylvanianEarly\_Permian\_arthropleuridtetrapod\_associations\_-\_implications\_for\_the\_habitat\_and\_paleobiology\_of\_the\_largest\_terrestrial\_arthropod
6. ↑ https://www.academia.edu/5045443/Gliederf%C3%BC%C3%9Fer\_ohne\_Insekten\_und\_Krebstiere
7. ↑ https://sjg.lyellcollection.org/content/3/1/118
8. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286669749\_Fossil\_giants\_and\_surviving\_dwarfs\_Arthropleurida\_and\_Pselaphognatha\_Atelocerata\_Diplopoda\_Characters\_phylogenetic\_relationships\_and\_construction
9. ↑ https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55924031
10. ↑ https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.536226
11. ↑ https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0491