New Data on Carboniferous Xiphosurans (Xiphosura, Chelicerata) of the Donets Coal Basin

Abstract

Descriptions of four xiphosuran species belonging to two genera, Bellinurus Pictet, 1846 and Prestwichianella Woodward, 1918 (currently included in Euproops Meek, 1867), which were described in the 1920s from the Carboniferous of the Donets Coal Basin, are reassessed based on modern knowledge of taphonomy and xiphosuran anatomy. Prestwichianella zalesskii Chernyshev, 1927 is here synonymized under Euproops danae (Meek et Worthen, 1865). New specimens of E. danae and Bellinurus sp. from the Carboniferous of the Donets Coal Basin are considered in view of associated floral and faunal assemblages and comparisons with floras and faunas from some previously described localities containing members of these genera.