Extinct genus of octopuses
Palaeoctopus is an extinct genus of octopuses that lived during the Late Cretaceous . It contains one valid species, P. newboldi , which has been found in Lebanon .
Taxonomy
Calais newboldi was named by Henry B. Woodward in 1896 for a nearly-complete specimen from the Sahel Alma lagerstätte of Lebanon.[ 2] However, that genus name was preoccupied by the beetle Calais .[ 3] Woodward named Palaeoctopus as a replacement later the same year.[ 1] Embrik Strand proposed the alternate replacement name Calaita in 1928.[ 4]
Beloteuthis libanotica was named by Adolf Naef in 1922 for a supposed teudopsid gladius from Sahel Alma.[ 6] It was moved to a new genus, Parateudopsis , by Theo Engeser and Joachim Reitner in 1986.[ 5] The specimen was eventually reidentified as an isolated gladius vestige of P. newboldi .[ 7]
A second species, P. pelagicus , was named by Dirk Fuchs and colleagues in 2008 for an alleged gladius vestige from the Vallecillo lagerstätte of Mexico .[ 8] It was subsequently revealed to be a gular plate from a coelacanth, possibly a juvenile Megalocoelacanthus .[ 9]
Life restoration
References
^ a b Woodward, H.B. (1896b). "Calais newboldi " . The Geological Magazine . New Series. 3 (12): 567. Bibcode :1896GeoM....3..567W . doi :10.1017/S0016756800135022 .
^ a b Woodward, H.B. (1896a). "On a fossil octopus (Calais newboldi , J. De C. Sby. MS.) from the Cretaceous of the Lebanon" . The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London . 52 (206): 229–234. doi :10.1144/GSL.JGS.1896.052.01-04.12 . S2CID 130534331 .
^ a b Laporte, F.L.N.C. (1838). "Études entomologiques, ou descriptions d'insectes nouveaux et observations sur la synonymie" . Revue Entomologique . 4 : 5–60.
^ a b Strand, E. (1928). "Miscellanea nomenclatorica zoologica et palaeontologica. I-II" (PDF) . Archiv für Naturgeschichte . Abteilung A. 92 (8): 30–75.
^ a b Engeser, T.; Reitner, J. (1986). "Coleoid remains from the Late Cretaceous of the Lebanon in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart" . Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde . Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie). 124 : 1–15.
^ a b Naef, A. (1922). Die Fossilen Tintenfische . Jena: Gustav Fischer. doi :10.5962/bhl.title.2082 .
^ Fuchs, D. (2010). "A rare and unusual teudopseid coleoid from the Upper Cretaceous of Hâqel (Lebanon)" (PDF) . Ferrantia . 59 : 61–72.
^ Fuchs, D.; Ifrim, C.; Stinnesbeck, W. (2008). "A new Palaeoctopus (Cephalopoda: Coleoidea) from the Late Cretaceous of Vallecillo, north-eastern Mexico, and implications for the evolution of Octopoda" . Palaeontology . 51 (5): 1129–1139. Bibcode :2008Palgy..51.1129F . doi :10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00797.x .
^ Schultze, H.-P.; Fuchs, D.; Giersch, S.; Ifrim, C.; Stinnesbeck, W. (2010). "Palaeoctopus pelagicus from the Turonian of Mexico reinterpreted as a coelacanth (sarcopterygian) gular plate" . Palaeontology . 53 (3): 689–694. Bibcode :2010Palgy..53..689S . doi :10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00943.x .