Arthrolycosa (meaning wolf [spider] with joints) is an extinct genus of arachnids, possibly spiders, that lived about 300-250 million years ago.

Arthrolycosa
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous to Late Permian
Arthrolycosa antiqua, illustrated by C. E. Beecher
Reconstruction of Arthrolycosa wolterbeeki
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae (?)
Family: Arthrolycosidae
Genus: Arthrolycosa
Harger, 1874
Species
  • A. antiqua Harger, 1874
  • A. carcinoides
  • A. wolterbeeki Dunlop, 2023

Fossils have been found Mazon Creek USA, Piesberg in Germany and in the Kirov Oblast region, and the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky of Russia.[1][2][3][4]

A. antiqua is estimated to have a body length of about 2.17 cm[2] and may have preyed upon insects and other smaller animals that lived alongside them. A. wolterbeeki is the oldest spider known from Germany.[3]

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  1. ^ Selden, Paul A.; Shcherbakov, Dmitry E.; Dunlop, Jason A.; Eskov, Kirill Yu. (2014-09-01). "Arachnids from the Carboniferous of Russia and Ukraine, and the Permian of Kazakhstan". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 88 (3): 297–307. Bibcode:2014PalZ...88..297S. doi:10.1007/s12542-013-0198-9. ISSN 1867-6812.
  2. ^ a b Selden, P. A. (2021). "New spiders (Araneae: Mesothelae), from the Carboniferous of New Mexico and England, and a review of Paleozoic Araneae". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 84: 317–358.
  3. ^ a b Dunlop, Jason A. (2023-07-16). "The first Palaeozoic spider (Arachnida: Araneae) from Germany". PalZ. 97 (3): 497–504. Bibcode:2023PalZ...97..497D. doi:10.1007/s12542-023-00657-7. ISSN 1867-6812.
  4. ^ Selden, P. A.; Eskov, K. Y. (2005). "First record of spiders from the Permian period (Araneae: Mesothelae)". Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society. 13 (4): 111–116.
  • Parker, Steve. Dinosaurus: the complete guide to dinosaurs. Firefly Books Inc, 2003. Pg. 75
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