Tetrophthalmi [SEP] parent taxon
Tetrophthalmi
Tetrophthalmi is an extinct suborder of Opiliones (commonly known as harvestmen or daddy longlegs) that had four eyes. First described in 2014, it is known from two extinct species. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that four eyes is the ancestral condition for harvestmen, placing Tetrophthalmi and Cyphophthalmi in a basal position within Opiliones.
Classification history.
In the early 1980s, a tiny fossil was extracted from the Montceau-les-Mines Lagerstätte deposit in Eastern France. The fossil went unstudied for more than 30 years before paleontologist Russell
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of