An Enigmatic Euchelicerate from the Mississippian (Serpukhovian) and Insights into Invertebrate Preservation in the Bear Gulch Limestone, Montana

Abstract

The Bear Gulch Limestone houses a diverse, exceptionally preserved marine fauna from the early Carboniferous. A wealth of vertebrate and invertebrate forms has previously been recorded from this deposit, including fish, annelids, and several arthropods. To expand the record of Bear Gulch marine arthropods, a new enigmatic, possibly blind euchelicerate, Titanoprosoma edgecombei, gen. et sp. nov., is described. The new euchelicerate taxon displays a hypertrophied, ovate, and structureless prosoma—a morphology unique among marine euchelicerates. We explore how the large prosoma and lack of ocular structures reflect possible adaptations to an infaunal, burrowing lifestyle. This species represents the fourth euchelicerate genus described from the Bear Gulch Limestone, further highlighting the impressive disparity of marine arthropods preserved in the deposit. The addition of novel invertebrate forms found in previously unknown museum material suggests that the Bear Gulch Limestone likely houses a still undocumented diversity of Carboniferous arthropods.