Centiped legs (Arthropoda, Chilopoda, Scutigeromorpha) from the Silurian and Devonian of Britain and the Devonian of North America

Remains of arthropod legs with a pentagonal cross section and serrate margins, found at three Silurian and Devonian sites (Ludford Lane, Wales; Rhynie, Scotland; and Gilboa, New York, USA), are herein attributed to terrestrial scutigeromorph centipeds. The Silurian and Devonian legs are distinct from each other, from previously described Carboniferous remains, and from modern scutigeromorphs, but the general pattern and many of the details of leg construction in these centipeds seems to have been conserved over a 415 million year history. The legs are attributed to a new scutigeromorph genus, Crussolum, placed in a new monobasic family Crussolidae; fairly complete remains from the Devonian of Gilboa, New York, are assigned to the new species Crussolum crusserratum Shear. The Silurian (Ludford Lane) and Rhynie legs are too poorly known to be given a species epithet, but more than one taxon may be present.