title: Carboniferous Onychophora from Montceau-les-Mines, France, and onychophoran terrestrialization.
abstract: The geological age of the onychophoran crown-group, and when the group came onto land, have been sources of debate. Although stem-group Onychophora have been identified from as early as the Cambrian, the sparse record of terrestrial taxa from before the Cretaceous is subject to contradictory interpretations. A Late Carboniferous species from the Mazon Creek biota of the USA,Helenodora inopinata, originally interpreted as a crown-group onychophoran, has recently been allied to early Cambrian stem-group taxa. Here we describe a fossil species from the Late Carboniferous Montceau-les-Mines Lagerstätte, France, informally referred to as an onychophoran for more than 30 years. The onychophoran affinities ofAntennipatus montceauensisgen. nov., sp. nov. are indicated by the form of the trunk plicae and the shape and spacing of their papillae, details of antennal annuli, and the presence of putative slime papillae. The poor preservation of several key systematic characters for extant Onychophora, however, prohibits the precise placement of the Carboniferous fossil in the stem or crown of the two extant families, or the onychophoran stem-group as a whole. Nevertheless,A. montceauensisis the most compelling candidate to date for a terrestrial Paleozoic onychophoran.
authors.affiliation: School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences The University of Manchester Manchester M13 9PL UK; Department of Earth Sciences The Natural History Museum London SW7 5BD UK.
authors.forename: Russell J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2803-9471
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Garwood
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences The Natural History Museum London SW7 5BD UK.
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Edgecombe
authors.affiliation: Département Histoire de la Terre Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris F-75005 Paris France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Charbonnier
authors.affiliation: Muséum d'Histoire naturelle d'Autun F-71400 Autun France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chabard
authors.affiliation: Muséum d'Histoire naturelle d'Autun F-71400 Autun France.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sotty
authors.affiliation: Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts 02138 USA; Department of Life Sciences The Natural History Museum London SW7 5BD UK.
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giribet
keywords: Antennipatus montceauensis gen. nov. sp. nov.; Carboniferous; Ecdysozoa; Onychophora; fossils; terrestrialization; velvet worms