Chelicerates - Natural history artistic poster - Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur

Engraving reproduction of: Chelicerates

Original title Aspidonia - Schildtiere

Limulus Poster - Arthropods of the main class Crustacea (Arachnid Class, Arachnida)

Illustration from the book Kunstformen der Natur, which is a collection of artistic lithographs of natural sciences published by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel between 1899 and 1904.

This naturalistic illustration is part of an overall style inspired by Ernst Haeckel, which greatly influenced the emerging Art Nouveau movement at the beginning of the ^20th century. This work, illustrating the impressive beauty and great diversity of the biological world, was complemented by a certain amount of scientific information, some excerpts of which are reproduced below.

This information is over 120 years old and some of it may be outdated!

Scientific classification:

 Phylum of Arthropods (Articulata)
Main class of Crustacea
Class Chelicerae (Aspidonia)

Scientific notice (extract) accompanying the poster print of Aspidonia - Chelicerates :

The chelicerates or Aspidonia form a very ancient group of arthropods, which is currently represented by only a single living genus, the horseshoe crab (Limulus; Fig. 1-8). On the other hand, the chelicerates, represented by numerous and imposing species, played a very important role during the Paleozoic era, that gray antiquity that dates back at least 14-20 million years. At that time, especially during the Silurian and Devonian periods, the chelicerates populated the sea to such an extent that they appear as the dominant representatives of the arthropods, especially the species-rich trilobites. Other Aspidonia, notably the gigantic (1.5 m long) Pterygotus, are the largest and most powerful of all arthropods. In the system of arthropods or articulates, chelicerates are generally placed in the class Caridonia or crustacea, that is, crustaceans in the strict sense. However, they differ very significantly from the latter by the absence of the characteristic nauplius larva. Moreover, all Aspidonia bear only one pair of antennae or true tentacles on the forehead, in front of the mouth, while all Caridonia have two pairs. Furthermore, chelicerates are in many respects similar to scorpions, so much so that some zoologists associate them with arachnids. In any case, both classes of crustaceans are descended from older annelids, namely bristleworms (Chaetopoda) which bore two pairs of legs on each segment. Some trilobites are very similar to certain annelids, for example Triarthrus (Fig. 20a and b).

Species present on the Chelicerates - Limulus naturalist board :

• Limulus moluccanus
• Eurypterus fischeri
• Pterygotus anglicus
• Trinucleus goldfussi
• Deiphon Forbesi
• Phacops latifrons
• Dalmania punctata
• Ampyx rouaultii
• Paradoxides behemicus
• Cheirurus insignis
• Acidaspis dufresnoyi
• Megalaspis extenuatus
• Harpes ungula
• Agnostus pisiformis
• Lichas palmata
• Hydrocephalus saturnoides
• Sphaerexochus mirus
• Triarthrus becki