Arthropods

Graphic modified from Schram (1984), in Richardson's Guide to the Faunal Fossils of Mazon Creek (1997)

There are a number of different kinds of arthropods known from Mazon Creek, including:

Crustaceans - the Crustacea includes a lot of familiar animals, including shrimp, crayfish, lobsters, crabs, barnacles and sowbugs. Several kinds are found at Mazon Creek:

Acanthotelson, a shrimp-like crustacean
Palaeocaris, another shrimp-like crustacean and its reconstruction
Anthracaris, another shrimp-like crustacean and its reconstruction
Cyzicus, a "clam-shrimp"

Find out more about Crustaceans at the Berkeley site.

Graphic modified from Packard (1886), in Richardson's Guide to the Faunal Fossils of Mazon Creek (1997)

Chelicerates - the chelicerates include horseshoe crabs, sea scorpions (an extinct group also called eurypterids), scorpions, and the spiders, ticks and mites. At Mazon Creek, we find horseshoe crabs, eurypterids and spiders.

· Euproops, a horseshoe crab and its reconstruction
· Lepidoderma, a eurypterid
· Pleophrynus, an arachnid relative of spiders
· Orthotarbus, another spider relative

Find out more about Chelicerates at the Berkeley site.

Myriapods - the Myriapoda have almost 13,000 living species, and includes the centipedes and millipedes, all of which are terrestrial. In the Mazon Creek faunas, we find a number of myriapods:

Euphoberia

Find out more about Myriapods at the Berkeley site.

Insects -insects are incredibly diverse. They are so diverse that the vast majority of animals on the earth are insects. Insect fossils are rare, but there are several kinds known at Mazon Creek, especially dragonflies.

· Thesoneura, a dragonfly
· Heterologus, another insect

Find out more about fossil insects at the Berkeley site's Introduction to the Uniramia and Uniramia Systematics.