Palaeodesmus

Palaeodesmus Temporal range: Early Devonian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Myriapoda
Class:	Diplopoda
Subclass:	†Archipolypoda
Order:	Incertae sedis
Family:	Incertae sedis
Genus:	†Palaeodesmus Wilson & Anderson, 2004
Species:	†P. tuberculata
Binomial name
Palaeodesmus tuberculata (Brade-Birks, 1923)
Synonyms
Kampecaris tuberculata

Palaeodesmus tuberculata is an extinct species of millipede known from the lower Devonian period of modern day Scotland. It was originally described as "Kampecaris tuberculata" by the Reverend Stanley Graham Brade-Birks, but was placed in its own new genus, Palaeodesmus, in 2004. Palaeodesmus has three rows of tubercles or bosses in the shape of round-edged squares or rectangles on the dorsal portion of each body segment. Palaeodesmus is a member of the extinct group Archipolypoda, but its anatomy is too porrly known to place it confidently within any known taxonomic family or order, and so it remains incertae sedis (uncertain placement), although possibly related to archidesmidan species such as Archidesmus.^[1][2]

References

1. Wilson, Heather M.; Anderson, Lyall I. (2004). "Morphology and taxonomy of Paleozoic millipedes (Diplopoda: Chilognatha: Archipolypoda) from Scotland". Journal of Paleontology 78 (1): 169–184. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2004)078<0169:MATOPM>2.0.CO;2.
2. Wilson, H. M. (2005). A new genus of Archipolypodan millipede from the Coseley Lagerstätte Upper Carboniferous, UK. Palaeontology, 48(5), 1097–1100.