The first Permian centipedes from Russia

Abstract

While fossils of myriapods are well-known from the Devonian and Carboniferous, until recently sediments from the Permian have been largely devoid of the remains of this important group of terrestrial arthropods. Only one locality reported to yield fossils of a single species of millipede has been cited for the Permian, and that through a reevaluation of strata previously thought to be Triassic. We report fossils of two new genera and species of scolopendromorph centipede (Chilopoda), Permocrassacus novokshonovi gen. et sp. nov., from the lower Permian of Tshekarda (the Urals, Russia) and Permocryptops shelleyi gen. et sp. nov., from the upper Permian of Isady (North European Russia). These are the first centipedes to be reported and the second and third myriapods to be formally named from the Permian Period. They are compared to previously described scolopendromorphs from the Carboniferous and Cretaceous. The new species possess enlarged ultimate legs, which probably were used as means of anchoring themselves to the substrate, or to aid in defense and prey capture.

Keywords

• Chilopoda
• Scolopendromorpha
• Permian
• Russia
• Tshekarda
• Isady