Artigo Acesso aberto Revisado por pares

Biomechanical analyses of pterygotid sea scorpion chelicerae uncover predatory specialisation within eurypterids

2022; PeerJ, Inc.; Volume: 10; Linguagem: Inglês

10.7717/peerj.14515

ISSN

2167-8359

Autores

Russell D. C. Bicknell, Yuri Simone, Arie van der Meijden, Stephen Wroe, Gregory D. Edgecombe, John R. Paterson,

Tópico(s)

Marine Biology and Ecology Research

Resumo

Eurypterids (sea scorpions) are extinct aquatic chelicerates. Within this group, members of Pterygotidae represent some of the largest known marine arthropods. Representatives of this family all have hypertrophied, anteriorly-directed chelicerae and are commonly considered Silurian and Devonian apex predators. Despite a long history of research interest in these appendages, pterygotids have been subject to limited biomechanical investigation. Here, we present finite element analysis (FEA) models of four different pterygotid chelicerae-those of

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