Arthropleura

Arthropleura, from Ancient Greek ἄρθρον (árthron), meaning "joint", and πλευρά (pleurá), meaning "rib", is an extinct genus of massive myriapod that lived in modern-day Europe and North America around 344 to 292 million years ago, from the Viséan stage of the lower Carboniferous period to the Sakmarian stage of the lower Permian period. It was a millipede, and was capable of reaching at least 2 metres in length, possibly up to over 2.5 metres, making it the largest known land arthropod of all time. Arthropleura is known from body fossils as well as trace fossils, particularly giant trackways up to 50 centimetres (20 in) wide, and potentially also large burrows. It lived in open, sparsely wooded environments near water, and may have been amphibious.

Arthropleura

Mickaël Lhéritier, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Russell J. Garwood, Adrien Buisson, Alexis Gerbe, Nicolás Mongiardino Koch,… · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ArthropleuridaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda

Time the record covers

At least 31 million years on record.

The record covers at least 330.3 Mya to 298.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 346.7 Mya to 290.1 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 60 of 61 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 1 of 61 occurrencesPermian348–346 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences346–344 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences344–342 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences342–340 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences340–338 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences338–336 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences336–334 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences334–332 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences332–330 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences330–328 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences328–326 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences320–318 Mya — about 2 occurrences318–316 Mya — about 10 occurrences316–314 Mya — about 8 occurrences314–313 Mya — about 7 occurrences313–311 Mya — about 7 occurrences311–309 Mya — about 7 occurrences309–307 Mya — about 4 occurrences307–305 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 1 occurrence303–301 Mya — about 6 occurrences301–299 Mya — about 4 occurrences299–297 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences293–291 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences291–289 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences330.3 Mya298.9 Mya348 Mya289 Mya

61 occurrences of Arthropleura on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

61 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

21 formations

Lower Saarbrucker layer — 49.32°N, 7.07°ELower Saarbrucker layer — 49.28°N, 7.03°ELower Saarbrucker layer — 49.38°N, 7.25°ELower Saarbrucker layer — 49.46°N, 7.91°EUpper Saarbrucker layer — 49.26°N, 7.00°EUpper Saarbrucker layer — 49.34°N, 7.17°EUpper Saarbrucker layer — 49.32°N, 7.07°EUpper Saarbrucker layer — 51.01°N, 7.14°EFarrington — 51.30°N, 2.43°WWettin — 51.63°N, 11.95°EFoel — 53.00°N, 3.00°WLuisenthal — 49.32°N, 7.05°EUntere Saarbrücker Schichten — 49.76°N, 7.35°EUpper Saarbrücker Shale — 49.33°N, 7.14°EBerthelsdorf — 51.12°N, 12.50°EFlénu — 50.44°N, 3.88°EZwickau — 50.70°N, 12.51°ESan José — 42.88°N, 5.64°WSan Giorgio — 39.29°N, 8.52°EStainmore — 55.46°N, 1.59°WCommentry Shales — 46.29°N, 2.75°EMiddle Coal Measures — 52.99°N, 1.31°WPastora — 42.88°N, 5.64°WMahoning — 40.70°N, 80.65°WKittanning — 40.80°N, 80.47°WGreat Seams — 46.68°N, 4.36°EMospyne — 48.24°N, 39.30°E

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The named rock units Arthropleura has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 28 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Arthropleura and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Arthropleura and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

285 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 58 sites for Arthropleura, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

21 references

Each of the 61 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 9 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Arthropleura

Credit
Mickaël Lhéritier, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Russell J. Garwood, Adrien Buisson, Alexis Gerbe, Nicolás Mongiardino Koch,…
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itArthropleuridae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Jordan 1854)