A pyritized lepidocoleid machaeridian (Annelida) from the Lower Devonian Hunsruck Slate, Germany.
A machaeridian, Lepidocoleus hohensteini sp. nov., is described from the Hunsrück Slate (Lower Emsian) of Germany. The available material includes a unique example preserving evidence of the soft tissues, only the second machaeridian specimen to do so and the first lepidocoleid. This specimen shows that the plates are attached to alternate segments in the trunk. The morphology is consistent with an annelid affinity of the Lepidocoleidae and confirms the unity of the Machaeridia. This discovery adds an important group to the known diversity of this famous late Palaeozoic marine Konservat-Lagerstätte.
Högström
Anette E S
AE
Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
Briggs
Derek E G
DE
Bartels
Christoph
C