Data from: Newly discovered morphology of the Silurian sea spider Haliestes and its implications

The three-dimensionally preserved Haliestes dasos from the Silurian
(Wenlock) Lagerstätte is the most complete fossil sea spider and the
oldest unambiguous pycnogonid known from the fossil record. The discovery
of two new specimens to add to the holotype reveals new features including
proximal annulations of the appendages and segmentation of the trunk end,
critical details for comparison with pycnogonids from the Devonian
(Emsian) Hunsrück Slate and for the interpretation of the evolutionary
significance of Palaeozoic genera. There is some evidence of sexual
dimorphism. H. dasos was nektobenthic and its morphology indicates an
unusual mode of feeding compared to living pycnogonids. The new
morphological features of H. dasos are closely similar to those in
Palaeoisopus problematicus from the Hunsrück Slate and it clearly belongs,
together with that species, in stem Pycnogonida and not the crown group.