trigonotarbid

English

Etymology

From order name Trigonotarbida.

Noun

trigonotarbid (plural trigonotarbids)

1. Any a group of extinct arachnids (order Trigonotarbida) of the late Silurian and early Permian periods, resembling spiders but without silk-producing spinnerets.
   • 2018 March 7, Elsa Panciroli, The Guardian:

     Around 70 different species of trigonotarbids have been recognised, mostly from the Carboniferous period, but some representatives are even older than the Rhynie Chert, pushing the origins of spider-like land animals back into the Silurian Period.

   • 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 215:

     True spiders have not yet arisen, but trigonotarbids are arachnids that are superficially very similar.