Karel Lamač (27 January 1897 – 2 August 1952) was a Czech film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He directed more than 100 films in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Life
Lamač was born 27 January 1897 in Prague, Austria-Hungary. His parents were Karel Lamač sr. (1863–1938), opera singer and a pharmacist, and Františka Lamačová (née Prusíková, 1860–1949). In his childhood Lamač was interested in pharmacy, electrical engineering, stage magic and acting. Before WWI he went to apprentice in camera manufacturer company Ernemann in Dresden. During the war he was a combat cameraman. After the war he became a technical director of film laboratory in Excelsiorfilm. He started working in movies in 1918, first as an actor, later as a writer and a director. Among his best movies of this period are crime drama The Poisoned Light, comedy Catch Him! and drama White Paradise. In 1923 he wrote a book How to write a film libretto. His frequent collaborators were actress Anny Ondra, cinematographer Otto Heller and screenwriter Václav Wasserman. In 1926 he co-founded a film studio Kavalírka where he made his movies until it burned down in 1929.

In 1930 he founded a production company Ondra-Lamač Film with his then girlfriend Anny Ondra in Berlin. During 1930s he was making movies in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France and Austria. After the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia he left to Netherlands to make De Spooktrein and then to United Kingdom where he joined Czechoslovak Army. He served in RAF until 1941 and in infantry division until 1946. He made war documentaries and three feature movies during WWII.  After the war he made two movies in France. In 1947 then went to USA where he worked on technical innovations of color film and camera lenses. In 1951 he returned to Germany and directed his last film The Thief of Bagdad.

He died in Hamburg, West Germany due to serious problems with his kidneys.

Selected filmography

Director

Actor
 Gilly in Prague for the First Time (1920)
 The Poisoned Light (1921)
 The Arrival from the Darkness (1921)
 Look After Your Daughters (1922)
 Lead Us Not into Temptation (1922)
 Young Medardus (1923)
 Helena (1924)
 The Secret Agent (1924)
 White Paradise (1924)
 The Lantern (1925)
 Eve's Daughters (1928)

Producer
 The Double (1934)

References

External links

1897 births
1952 deaths
Male actors from Prague
People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
20th-century Czech male actors
Czech film directors
Czechoslovak film directors
Silent film directors
Czech film producers
Czech male film actors
Czech male silent film actors
Czech screenwriters
Male screenwriters
Silent film screenwriters
German-language film directors
English-language film directors
20th-century screenwriters


Pontage was a toll levied for the building or repair of bridges dating to the medieval era in England, Wales and Ireland.

Pontage was similar in nature to murage (a toll for the building of town walls) and pavage (a toll for paving streets and market places, or—more rarely—roads between towns).

The erection and maintenance of bridges has at all times been a great source of anxiety. Item 23 of Magna Carta states that "No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at river banks except those who from old were legally bound to do so."  This presumably also covered the questions of repair and many Inquisitions were taken in medieval times to settle who should do the work. A very common verdict was that "No one is responsible for the repair of this bridge". In the absence of legal obligations, this duty fell to the Crown from then on. As a consequence "grants of pontage" or licences to collect tolls for a limited period were frequently issued by the King to those appointed or permitted to bear the cost of maintenance.

Pontage was granted by the king by letters patent for a limited term, sufficient to enable the requisite public works to be done. However, sometimes the works were not completed (or at least not paid for) by the end of the term, so that a renewal had to be obtained. Grants were made from 1228 until the 1440s, the earliest being for bridges at Ferrybridge, Yorkshire and Staines, an important crossing of the river Thames. In all about 370 grants were made. In the Lordship of Ireland, grants of pontage were used to build bridges in many towns, including Clonmel, Kilcullen and Leighlinbridge.

The term pontage is also applied to lands in Cambridgeshire, which were liable to repair the bridge of Cambridge as an incident of tenure.

References

Toll (fee)
Bridges in England
Taxation in medieval England
History of Cambridgeshire
Toll bridges in England


Archibald Hurley Robinson  (14 June 1883 – 24 February 1953) was a prolific English architect of cinemas prior to the Second World War.

Biography
Robinson was born in Handsworth, Staffordshire. After serving in the Royal Air Force in the First World War, he set up his own practice which was initially called Hurley Robinson & Sons and then renamed Hurley Robinson & Partners, which were both based in Birmingham, England.

His work on cinemas was mainly during the 1930s. His cinemas were mainly of the Art Deco style that was popularly used by Oscar Deutsch for his Odeon Cinemas. A lot of Robinson's work was commissioned in the Midlands area of England.

Hurley Robinson remodelled the Salters' Hall in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire to become a cinema in 1933. This was again altered to become a library in 1982. He also designed the Ritz Cinema in Bordesley Green, Birmingham. A pre-World War II work by Robinson was the Lee Longlands furniture store on Broad Street, Birmingham. This was completed in 1931, and is a rare example of a building that was not a cinema by Robinson before the war. The building was extended in 1939. Another example of a pre-World War II work by Hurley Robinson is the Kent Street Baths in Birmingham which was built between 1931 and 1933. The Art Deco baths survived, unused, until September 2009. His Sparkhill Baths, from the same era, still stand. Hurley Robinson also designed the Dudley Hippodrome theatre, which was built in 1938.

Following World War II, the cinema business deteriorated and Robinson's work was less concentrated on this aspect of construction. In 1959, Robinson was commissioned to design an extension to a factory used by Rootes Motor Parts Limited on the Coventry Road in Birmingham. Also in 1959, construction of Norfolk House on Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham was completed. The bow-fronted building was originally intended to be a warehouse, however it later incorporated offices and retail units and is now locally listed. The façade is clad in stone and there is a wavy shell concrete canopy above the street level.

Cinemas

Cinemas designed by Robinson include:

References

Architects from Staffordshire
1883 births
1953 deaths
People from Handsworth, West Midlands
Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects


The  San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 36th season in the National Football League, and the 46th overall. The Chargers failed to improve on their 12–4 record in 2004, and finished the campaign 9–7 and 3rd overall in their division, missing out on the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Outside linebacker Shawne Merriman was named Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.

Despite missing the playoffs, the Chargers defeated some of the best teams in the NFL, such as the defending Super Bowl champions New England Patriots (41–17) and the previously undefeated Indianapolis Colts (26–17; ending the prospect of a perfect season). Following the season, Drew Brees would sign as a free agent with the New Orleans Saints. Brees would be replaced by Philip Rivers who would become their starter for the next 14 seasons.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Regular season

Schedule
In addition to their regular games with AFC West rivals, the Chargers played teams from the AFC East and NFC East as per the schedule rotation, and also played intraconference games against the Steelers and the Colts based on divisional positions from 2004.

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Dallas Cowboys

Week 2: at Denver Broncos

Week 3: vs. New York Giants

Week 4: at New England Patriots

Week 5: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 6: at Oakland Raiders

Week 7: at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 8: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Week 9: at New York Jets

Week 11: vs. Buffalo Bills

Week 12: at Washington Redskins

Week 13: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 14: vs. Miami Dolphins

Week 15: at Indianapolis Colts

Week 16: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 17: vs. Denver Broncos

Standings

References

External links

San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers seasons
San Diego Chargers


Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes was a constituency of the European Parliament located in the United Kingdom, electing one Member of the European Parliament by the first-past-the-post electoral system. Created in 1994 from parts of Cambridge and Bedfordshire North and Suffolk, it was abolished in 1999 on the adoption of proportional representation for European elections in the United Kingdom. It was mostly succeeded by the East of England region, with the remaining part succeeded by the South East England region.

Boundaries

It consisted of the parliamentary constituencies of Luton North, Luton South, Mid Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes South West, North Bedfordshire, North East Milton Keynes and South West Bedfordshire.

Mid Bedfordshire and North Bedfordshire had previously been part of the Cambridge and Bedfordshire North constituency, while Luton North, Luton South, Milton Keynes South West, North East Milton Keynes and South West Bedfordshire had been part of the Bedfordshire South constituency.

Most of the area became part of the East of England constituency in 1999; the Milton Keynes constituencies became part of the South East England constituency.

MEPs

Election results

References

External links
 David Boothroyd's United Kingdom Election Results

European Parliament constituencies in England (1979–1999)
Politics of Bedfordshire
1994 establishments in England
1999 disestablishments in England
Constituencies established in 1994
Constituencies disestablished in 1999


Wiston is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located  south east of Lanark and  south west of Biggar.

Located in the Southern Uplands it is immediately to the south of Tinto, one of the highest points in the locality. The Garf Water, a tributary of the River Clyde, runs through the village.

The village has hosted the Tinto Folk Music Festival. Wiston Lodge is a former Victorian hunting lodge built in the 1850s set in a  estate. It is now a venue for team-building activities including programmes leading to John Muir Awards.

References

External links
 Wiston Lodge

Villages in South Lanarkshire


Bedfordshire South was a constituency of the European Parliament located in the United Kingdom, electing one Member of the European Parliament by the first-past-the-post electoral system. Created in 1984 from parts of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, it was abolished in 1994 and succeeded by Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes.

Boundaries
It consisted of the parliamentary constituencies of Luton South, Milton Keynes, North Hertfordshire, Luton North, South West Bedfordshire, Stevenage, and West Hertfordshire.

When it was abolished in 1994, the parliamentary constituencies of Luton South, Luton North, South West Bedfordshire and the new seats of Milton Keynes South West and North East Milton Keynes became part of the Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes constituency, while North Hertfordshire and West Hertfordshire were transferred to Hertfordshire, and Stevenage was transferred to Essex West and Hertfordshire East.

MEPs

Election results

References

External links
 David Boothroyd's United Kingdom Election Results

European Parliament constituencies in England (1979–1999)
Politics of Bedfordshire
1984 establishments in England
1994 disestablishments in England
Constituencies established in 1984
Constituencies disestablished in 1994


This article is about the particular significance of the year 1770 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey - Sir Nicholas Bayly, 2nd Baronet
Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire – Thomas Morgan of Rhiwpera
Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire - Thomas Wynn
Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne
Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – George Rice
Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire - Richard Myddelton
Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire - Sir Roger Mostyn, 5th Baronet
Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Other Windsor, 4th Earl of Plymouth
Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire - William Vaughan
Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis
Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir William Owen, 4th Baronet
Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer

Bishop of Bangor – John Ewer
Bishop of Llandaff – Shute Barrington
Bishop of St Asaph – Jonathan Shipley
Bishop of St Davids – Charles Moss

Events
September - Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, holds his legendary coming-of-age party, to which 15,000 guests are invited. Three coachloads of cooks are sent from London to provide the refreshments, and a hall is built especially for the occasion at Wynnstay.
Approximate date - Bridge at Pontardawe built by William Edwards.

Arts and literature

New books
Robert Jones (Calvinistic Methodist) - Lleferydd yr Asyn
Thomas Meredith - An Illustration of Several Texts of Scripture
John Walters - A Dissertation on the Welsh Language
Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet - History of the Gwydir Family (posthumously published)

Music
Daines Barrington - Some Account of Two Musical Instruments Used in Wales

Births
15 January - Sir John Edwards, 1st Baronet, of Garth, politician (died 1850)
8 April - John Jenkins (Ifor Ceri), antiquarian (died 1829)
14 April - John Evans, explorer (died 1799)
30 April - David Thompson, explorer (died 1857)

Deaths
13 January - Howel Davies, Methodist leader, about 54
19 June - Thomas Williams, Congregational minister, about 45
8 August - John Jones, clergyman and author, 70

References

1770 by country
1770 in Great Britain
1770 in Europe
1770s in Wales


Jerome Township may refer to the following places in the United States:

 Jerome Township, Gove County, Kansas
 Jerome Township, Michigan
 Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio

Township name disambiguation pages


The  San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 35th season in the National Football League (NFL), its 45th overall and the third under head coach Marty Schottenheimer. It would be the first season the franchise would have involving quarterback Philip Rivers. The team improved on their 4–12 record in 2003 and finished the regular season 12–4, made the playoffs for the first time in nine years, and captured their first division title since the 1994 season. In the playoffs they lost in overtime to the New York Jets. At the end of the season Marty Schottenheimer was named NFL Coach of the Year.

Offseason

NFL draft
Entering the draft, the consensus top pick was Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning. However, Manning had said prior to the draft that he did not want to play for the Chargers and would not sign with them if he was drafted. The Chargers would strike a deal with the Giants before the draft that would shape the future of both franchises. The Chargers would select Manning first overall, as they had intended to. The Giants would then draft quarterback Philip Rivers of North Carolina State, and then swap him and two 2005 draft picks for Manning.

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Houston Texans

Week 2: vs. New York Jets

Week 3: at Denver Broncos

Week 4: vs. Tennessee Titans

Week 5: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 6: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 7: at Carolina Panthers

Week 8: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 9: vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 11: at Oakland Raiders

Week 12: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 13: vs. Denver Broncos

Week 14: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 15: at Cleveland Browns

San Diego clinches its first division title since 1994.

Week 16: at Indianapolis Colts

Week 17: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Standings

Postseason

Game summary

AFC wildcard playoffs: vs. New York Jets

See also
 2004 NFL season

References

San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers seasons
AFC West championship seasons
San Diego


Graham Hitch is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of York, best known for his work with Alan Baddeley in developing a Working Memory Model.

Education
He gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from the University of Cambridge, before gaining a Master of Science degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Sussex. He then returned to Cambridge to complete his PhD in 1972.

Career and research
He has worked as a research fellow at the University of Sussex (1971–1972) and the University of Stirling (1972–1974), and as a scientist on the Medical Research Council of the Applied Psychology Unit based in Cambridge (1974–1979). He has more recently been employed as a lecturer at the University of Manchester (1979–1990), and as a professor at the University of Lancaster (1991–2000), before moving to the University of York in 2000.

References

Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester
Academics of the University of York
English psychologists
Memory researchers
Living people
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Alumni of the University of Sussex
Academics of the University of Sussex
Academics of the University of Stirling
Academics of Lancaster University
Year of birth missing (living people)


Ruth Maier (10 November 1920 in Vienna, Austria – 1 December 1942 in Auschwitz, German-occupied Poland) was an Austrian woman whose diaries describing her experiences of the Holocaust in Austria and Norway were published in 2007; reviews described her as "Norway's Anne Frank."

Early life

Ruth Maier was born in Vienna to a largely assimilated Jewish family daughter of Ludwig [b.1882] and Irma [1895-1964]. Her father, Dr. Ludwig Maier, held a doctorate in philosophy, was a polyglot (mastering nine languages), and held a senior position within the Austrian post and telegraph service. He died in 1933 of erysipelas.  Her first cousin, who survived the war, was the philosopher Stephan Körner.

Her younger sister Judith managed to escape to the United Kingdom. Through her father's contacts, Ruth was able to find refuge in Norway, where she arrived by train on 30 January 1939. She was housed for some time with a Norwegian family. She became fluent in Norwegian within a year, completed her examen artium, and befriended the future poet Gunvor Hofmo at a volunteer work camp in Biri. The two became a couple, finding lodging and work in various places in Norway.

Model for sculptor Gustav Vigeland

Ruth was also one of the models for the statue "Surprised", by Gustav Vigeland. It is on permanent display in Frogner Park in Oslo. Vigeland began work on the sculpture about 1904.
The model for the face of the sculpture was Inga Syvertsen; the sculpture was completed in 1942. Maier was surprised by another person entering the room while she was modelling for Vigeland, and she tried to cover her naked body, hence the posture. The statue was eventually cast in bronze in 2002. Additionally Ruth was a model for Norwegian painter Åsmund Esval.

Arrest, deportation to Auschwitz and death

She rented a room in Dalbergstien 3 in Oslo in the early fall of 1942 and was arrested on 26 November 1942 and deported on the SS Donau the same day. Arriving in Auschwitz on 1 December 1942, she was sent directly to the gas chambers and murdered. She was 22.

Publishing of diary
Her partner Gunvor Hofmo kept Ruth's diaries and much of her correspondence. She approached Gyldendal to get them published in 1953, but was turned down. After she died in 1995, Jan Erik Vold went through her papers and came upon Ruth Maier's works. After editing them for ten years, they were published in 2007. Vold was highly impressed by the literary value of the diaries, comparing Ruth Maier's literary talent to that of Hannah Arendt and Susan Sontag. The book was translated into English by Jamie Bulloch in 2009.

Most of Ruth's diary is preserved from 1933 to 1942. She wrote in her diary about the deteriorating conditions for Austria's Jewish population following the Anschluss in 1938, her reaction to the many changes in her life, and her yearning for her family.

2012 apology by Norway's government
In a speech issued on 27 January 2012 on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg issued an official apology for the role played by Norwegians in the deportations.  As reported on the official website of the Norwegian Government, Stoltenberg delivered his speech at the dock in the capital Oslo where 532 Jews boarded the cargo ship Donau on 26 November 1942, bound for Nazi camps.  Stoltenberg said:

Legacy
In 2015 Klassekampen printed a facsimile of her piece Kirkegård/Vår Frelser ("Graveyard/Our Saviour") in an article about the exhibition (until 23 August) at Bomuldsfabrikken Kunsthall in Arendal: "Krigsbilder. Kunst under okkupasjonen 1940—45", adding that "Sensitive impressions of nature and cityscapes in aquarell, testify to an independent talent."

In 2020, Ruth Maiers plass (Ruth Maier Square) was scheduled to open in Oslo; it is located at the corner of Glückstads gate/ Dovregata/ Krumgata.

Lillestrøm has a street named after her.

Notes

The Holocaust in Norway
Children in war
Austrian women writers
Writers from Vienna
Writers from Oslo
Stateless people
Women diarists
Women in World War II
1920 births
1942 deaths
Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss
Austrian people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp
Jewish women writers
Austrian civilians killed in World War II
Refugees in Norway
People killed by gas chamber by Nazi Germany
20th-century women writers
20th-century Austrian writers
Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust
20th-century diarists
Norwegian artists' models
Models from Oslo


Belinuropsis is a dubious genus of prehistoric arthropod which contains one species, B. wigudensis, from the Silurian period of New Brunswick, Canada. Matthew tried to describe Belinuropsis originally as a species of Belinurus. Two specimens that match the Matthew's illustration of B. wigudensis have been located in the New Brunswick Museum paleontology collection and assigned catalogue numbers NBMG 3307 and NBMG 3308 (Miller, 1988). Examination of the specimens casts doubt on validity of the genus erected by Matthew. The material is poorly preserved and difficult to interpret, so, after examinations of the specimens, Belinuropsis has been considered as nomen dubium.

References

Carboniferous arthropods of North America


Himantopterus is a genus of moths in the family Himantopteridae. It was described by Constantin Wesmael in 1836.

Species
 Himantopterus caudata Moore, 1879
 Himantopterus dohertyi Elwes, 1890
 Himantopterus fuscinervis Wesmael, 1836
 Himantopterus nox Hering, 1937
 Himantopterus nobuyukii Y. Kishida & Inomata, 1993
 Himantopterus venatus Strand, 1914
 Himantopterus zaida Doubleday, 1843

References

 , 1993: A new species of the himantopterid genus Himantopterus from Borneo (Lepidoptera). Tyô to Ga, 44 (2): 49–51. Abstract and full article:

Himantopteridae
Zygaenoidea genera


This article lists English association football clubs whose men's sides have won competitive honours run by official governing bodies. Friendly competitions and matches organized between clubs are not included. The football associations FIFA and UEFA run international and European competitions; while The Football Association, and its mostly self-governing subsidiary bodies the English Football League and Premier League, run national competitions.

England's first competition organised by a national body, the FA Cup, began in the 1871–72 season, making it one of the oldest football competitions in the world. Arsenal hold the record number of wins, with 14. League football began in the next decade with the founding of The Football League in 1888–89. The name First Division was adopted in 1892, when The Football League gained a second division. The First Division remained the highest division of the English league system until 1992, when the Premier League was founded. Manchester United have won the most top division titles, 20. The English equivalent of the super cup began in 1898 with the inauguration of the Sheriff of London Charity Shield, pitting the best professional and amateur sides of the year against each other. The trophy would develop into the FA Charity Shield in 1908, which was later renamed the FA Community Shield in 2002. Manchester United also hold the record here, with 21 wins. The Football League created its own knockout competition in 1960, the League Cup. Its current record is nine wins, held by Liverpool. The Anglo-Italian League Cup was created in 1969 to match English cup winners against the winners of the Coppa Italia, and was permanently disbanded in 1976. In 1985, the Full Members' Cup and Football League Super Cup were created as substitutes for UEFA competitions after UEFA responded to the Heysel Stadium disaster by banning English clubs. They finished in 1992 and 1986, respectively. The Football League Centenary Trophy marked The Football League's 100th birthday, in the 1988–89 season.

The European governing body UEFA was founded in 1954, and created their first and most prestigious competition, the European Cup, the next year. It was expanded and renamed in 1992 as the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool hold the English record, with six wins. Parallel to UEFA, various officials created the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1955, but this competition was disbanded when UEFA created the replacement tournament, UEFA Cup, in 1971 (renamed the UEFA Europa League in 2009). The English record number of Europa League wins is three, also held by Liverpool. Another competition absorbed into the UEFA Cup, in 1999, was the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, which was created in 1960 and featured the winners of national knockout competitions. The winners of this competition played the European Cup winners in the UEFA Super Cup, starting in 1972 (recognised by UEFA in 1973), which now features the winners of the Champions League and Europa League. Liverpool also hold the English record, with four wins, in the UEFA Super Cup. The International Football Cup, also known as the UEFA Intertoto Cup, was a competition for clubs not participating in the European Cup, UEFA Cup or Cup Winners' Cup. The tournament commenced in 1961, but UEFA officially recognised it only in 1995, and discontinued in 2008, with the Europa League expanded to accommodate Intertoto Cup clubs. UEFA and CONMEBOL also created an intercontinental competition in 1960, the Intercontinental Cup, featuring continental champions from both associations. In 2000, the international governing body FIFA created the FIFA Club World Cup and in 2004 the Intercontinental Cup was merged into it. Manchester United are the only English club to have won the Intercontinental Cup, while United, Chelsea and Liverpool are the only English teams to have lifted the Club World Cup.

Lower down in the hierarchy of English football are many other competitions, not included in the tables on this page. These include competitions run by the above national governing bodies, but organised for clubs ineligible for higher competitions. For example, the Texaco Cup and EFL Trophy. Regional competitions are organised by County Football Associations. In the years when league football was unavailable or only available to northern and midlands clubs, the county competitions coexisted with the FA Cup as the main tournaments for clubs. Nowadays, county cups are contested by lower or regional division teams and those that still participate generally field youth or reserve sides.

Summary totals
Numbers in bold are record totals for that category. Clubs in italics are Double winners: they have won two or more of these trophies in the same season (excluding super cups). Trophies that were shared between two clubs are counted as honours for both teams. Clubs tied in total honours are listed chronologically by most recent honour won. See the other tables for breakdowns of each competition won.

Cups here are competitions with a knockout format. Among FIFA and UEFA competitions, these are the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Europa Conference League, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup. Among top-qualifying competitions overseen by The FA, these are the top division, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the Full Members' Cup, the Football League Super Cup and the Football League Centenary Trophy. Super cups here consist of the honours that have or had only two participating clubs per season. These are the Intercontinental Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Community Shield and its precursor the Sheriff of London Charity Shield. The Anglo-Italian League Cup is also listed as a super cup because it only had two clubs competing per season.

Last updated on 16 August 2023, following Manchester City's victory in the 2023 UEFA Super Cup.

FIFA and UEFA

Winners of each competition are referenced above. Numbers in bold are English record totals for that competition. Trophies that were shared between two clubs are counted as honours for both teams. Clubs tied in total honours are listed chronologically by most recent honour won.

Last updated on 16 August 2023.

FA, EFL and PL (top-qualifying)

This section only lists competitions overseen by The FA (and its subsidiary leagues the EFL and Premier League) where there are no higher competitions clubs could participate in instead. See the next section for other competitions run by these bodies. See the main article for winners of friendly competitions run by these bodies.

Winners of each competition are referenced above. Numbers in bold are record totals for that competition. Clubs in italics are Double winners: they have won two or more of the top division, the FA Cup, and the EFL Cup in the same season. Trophies that were shared between two clubs are counted as honours for both teams. Clubs tied in total honours are listed chronologically by most recent honour won.

Last updated on 6 August 2023.

FA, EFL and PL (lower-qualifying)

In addition to the honours listed in the section above, England's football governing bodies have also organized a variety of less prominent competitions for clubs not eligible for the honours above. One example is the Texaco Cup (or International League Board Competition), which was available for top division sides that hadn't qualified for Europe, and was one of the few attempts to create a cross-border competition between clubs from the various nations of the UK and Ireland. Another is the EFL Trophy, which involves clubs from League One and League Two (the third and fourth tiers of the English football league system). Since 2016–17 season, sixteen Category One academies from Championship and Premier League have taken part in the competition.

County FAs

English football also has a network of regional governing bodies known as County Football Associations. These associations are roughly based around county lines, although some cover multiple counties or the boundaries of major cities. They generally have a Senior Cup, such as the Kent Senior Cup or Middlesex Senior Cup, as their premier competition for men's clubs. In some cases, such as the Kent and Middlesex Senior Cups, these involve the senior first-teams of lower-division or regional-division clubs; in other cases it can have other formats, such as the Manchester Senior Cup, which became a reserve team competition for six large clubs from the region. In the years when league football was unavailable or only available to northern and midlands clubs, the Senior Cups coexisted with the FA Cup as the main tournaments for clubs.

See also
English football clubs in international competitions
List of English football champions
List of FA and league honours won by men's clubs

Footnotes

References

External links

Honours
Clubs by honours


Johnstown Township may refer to:

 Johnstown Township, Michigan
 Johnstown Township, Grand Forks County, North Dakota, in Grand Forks County, North Dakota

Township name disambiguation pages


Riverside Garden(s) may refer to:

Yanlord Riverside Garden in Changning District, Shanghai, China
Riverside Gardens, Louisville in United States
Fellows Riverside Gardens, public botanical gardens, Mill Creek Metro Parks system, Youngstown, Ohio
University of California, Riverside Botanic Gardens in United States

or gardens in

Riverside, California
Riverside County, California
Riverside Park (Manhattan), a waterfront public park on Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan
Riverside, Illinois

or as an alternate name of

Greenfields, Western Australia


Adelophthalmus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Adelophthalmus have been discovered in deposits ranging in age from the Early Devonian to the Early Permian, which makes it the longest lived of all known eurypterid genera, with a total temporal range of over 120 million years. Adelopththalmus was the final genus of the Eurypterina suborder of eurypterids and consisted the only known genus of swimming eurypterids from the Middle Devonian until its extinction during the Permian, after which the few surviving eurypterids were all walking forms of the suborder Stylonurina.

Fossils of Adelophthalmus have been described from four continents; North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, which indicates that Adelophthalmus might have had a nearly cosmopolitan (worldwide) distribution, one of few eurypterid genera to achieve one besides potentially Pterygotus. The territorial expansion of Adelophthalmus had begun early, with representatives found in both Siberia and Australia during the Devonian, but it first gained its almost cosmopolitan distribution following the amalgamation of the supercontinent Pangaea during the Carboniferous and Permian.

The generic name Adelophthalmus means "no obvious eye", referencing that the holotype fossil seemingly represented an eyeless eurypterid, with a carapace (head plate) completely lacking any indication of eyes. Though this has caused much subsequent confusion, including the naming of several junior synonyms, the apparent eyelessness of the type specimen is treated by modern researchers as a preservational artifact, and not a feature that any species of Adelophthalmus would have possessed in life.

Adelophthalmus was a genus of comparatively small eurypterids, with species ranging in size from 4 cm (1.6 in, A. douvillei) to 32 cm (12.6 in, A. khakassicus). As of 2020, Adelophthalmus is the most taxonomically diverse of all eurypterid genera, containing 33 species considered valid. This large amount of species, many named long ago, have prompted some researchers to designate Adelophthalmus as a "wastebasket taxon" with poorly known internal relationships and phylogeny. The genus as it is currently seen may form a monophyletic group (a group sharing a common ancestor) but might most appropriately be split into different genera along distinct clades formed within the current confines of the genus.

Description
Adelophthalmid eurypterids such as Adelophthalmus were small and streamlined nektonic (actively swimming) eurypterids with prominent cuticle sculptures (ornamentation consisting of small, minute, scales across their backs). These scales are perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the group, though similar scales have been reported in other eurypterid groups, most notably the pterygotids, as well.

Though the largest adelophthalmid, Adelophthalmus was, in comparison to larger apex predatory members of the group (such as Jaekelopterus), a genus of relatively small eurypterids. The largest species of Adelophthalmus known, A. khakassicus, reached a maximum length of approximately 32 cm (12.6 in). Many species were smaller, the smallest being the Permian A. douvillei at just 4 cm (1.6 in) in length. The genus as a whole does not appear to have fluctuated much in size over the course of its long evolutionary history, with "large" species occurring in the Devonian (A. sievertsi at 18 cm, 7 in, and A. waterstoni at 15 cm, 6 in), the Carboniferous (the aforementioned A. mazonensis, A. wilsoni at 20 cm, 7.9 in, and both A. granosus and A. zadrai at 15 cm, 6 in) and during the Permian (A. luceroensis at 18 cm, 7 in). Most of the smaller species are known from the Carboniferous, when Adelophthalmus was the most abundant, including the "medium-sized" A. irinae (13 cm, 5.1 in) and A. moyseyi (12 cm, 4.7 in) and the smaller A. mansfieldi, A. pennsylvanicus (both at 8 cm, 3.1 in), A. approximatus (7 cm, 2.8 in) and A. dumonti (6 cm, 2.4 in).

Like most eurypterids (with some exceptions, such as Slimonia and Rhinocarcinosoma), the carapace (the segment covering the prosoma, the "head") of Adelophthalmus was parabolic in shape, with a narrow marginal rim (edge). The carapace was held in place with the aid of a small and hinged triangular "locking" mechanism placed anteriorly. The eyes were reniform (bean-shaped) and the small ocelli were located between, or slightly behind (depending on the species), the larger eyes. The metastoma (a large plate part of the abdomen) of Adelophthalmus was oval in shape, with the first opisthosomal (the opisthosoma refers to all segments after the carapace, essentially the abdomen) having a reduced length and being tapered laterally. The body of Adelophthalmus ended with a long and sharp styliform telson (the posteriormost segment, here in the shape of a spike). The feature that primarily distinguishes Adelophthalmus from other adelophthalmid eurypterids is its elongated body and the spurs present on its abdominal segments.

Table of species
The status of the 35 names (out of which two are synonyms) listed below follow a 2018 survey by German paleontologists Jason A. Dunlop and Denise Jekel and British paleontologist David Penney and size- and temporal ranges follow a 2009 study by American paleontologists James Lamsdell and Simon J. Braddy unless otherwise noted.

History of research

Earliest discoveries

The first specimen of Adelophthalmus to be discovered was excavated in 1851 by German paleontologist Hermann Jordan in a railway shaft at Jägersfreude, near Saarbrücken in Germany. This specimen was described three years later in 1854 in the work Ueber die Crustaceen der Steinkohlenformation von Saarbrücken ("Of the crustaceans of the coal formation of Saarbrücken"), written by Jordan and Hermann von Meyer and featuring descriptions of several other arthropod taxa. The fossil was immediately recognized by Jordan as that of a eurypterid, with both the overall shape and form and the individual parts (particularly the head and the appendages) being very similar to those of Eurypterus which had been described in the United States in 1825, 29 years earlier. Among the differences noted between the specimens were the smaller size and later age of the Saarbrücken fossil and what Jordan and von Meyer perceived to be a complete lack of eyes.

Since the preserved carapace had no indication of there ever having been any eyes present, Jordan and von Meyer assumed that the animal would have been completely eyeless in life, with the original description of the fossil citing several cases in which eyeless forms occur in arthropod groups otherwise possessing eyes (such as in crustaceans and trilobites). This apparent eyelessness prompted the choice of name, Adelophthalmus, meaning "no obvious eye". The species name, granosus, is derived from the latin grānōsus ("grainy" or "full of grains"), referring to the state of the fossil preservation having given some of the fossils a grainy texture. The type specimen, to this day the only specimen referred to A. granosus, is today held in the arthropod paleontology collections of the Natural History Museum of Berlin under the specimen number MB.A. 890.

Though modern researchers tend to treat the assumed eyelessness as a preservational artifact and not a feature that A. granosus would have had in life, this issue was not resolved immediately which made the naming of subsequently discovered species confusing and problematic. Lepidoderma imhofi, named in 1855 from Carboniferous-age deposits in Germany, shows definite eyes. The descriptor, Austrian paleontologist August Emanuel von Reuss, noted that Lepidoderma likely was synonymous with Adelophthalmus, but ignored the rules of taxonomical priority and used his younger name due to it being based on material that he considered to be better preserved. The name Lepidoderma derives from the Latin lepidus ("elegant" or "fine") and Ancient Greek δέρμα (ðerma, "skin").

In 1868, American paleontologists Fielding Bradford Meek and Amos Henry Worthen described Anthraconectes mazonensis, Anthraconectes being designated a subgenus of Eurypterus, based on fossils recovered in Carboniferous-age deposits at Mazon Creek in Illinois (the first species to be described from North America). After examining the Adelophthalmus type specimen in 1934, German paleontologist Paul Guthörl remarked that Anthraconectes and Adelophthalmus were so similar that they would have been synonyms had Adelophthalmus possessed eyes. The name Polyzosternites was coined by German paleontologist Friedrich Goldenberg (who also named the species Polyzosternites raniceps, today recognized as A. raniceps) in 1873 to replace the name Adelophthalmus in regards to specimens described after the type specimen in the belief that the type of Adelophthalmus represented the fossil remains of a cockroach. Glyptoscorpius was erected to include some fossils from the Carboniferous of Scotland, including the species G. perornatus (designated as type, the type specimen consisting of only five tergites), G. caledonicus and G. kidstoni, by British geologist Ben Peach in 1882. Glyptoscorpius would for a long time erroneously be considered to represent the fossil remains of a scorpion and not an eurypterid.

The second species to be described from North America was A. pennsylvanicus (as Eurypterus pennsylvanicus), by Meek and Worthen from the coal-measures of Venango County, Pennsylvania in 1877. That same year, American paleontologist James Hall described the species A. mansfieldi (under the name Eurypterus (Dolichopterus) mansfieldi) based on fossils recovered in Cannelton, Pennsylvania. In 1888, Hall described the species A. approximatus (as Eurypterus approximatus) together with American paleontologist John Mason Clarke based on fossils also recovered from Pennsylvania.

The English geologist Henry Woodward described the species Eurypterus wilsoni (=Adelophthalmus wilsoni) in 1888 based on a fossil recovered by an Edward Wilson of the Bristol Museum, naming the species in his honor. The only known specimen is composed of six body segments and Woodward noted that naming the species may have been slightly premature. He noted that the specimen possessed markings and spikes running alongside the abdomen in a similar way to A. mansfieldi (then classified as Eurypterus mansfieldi).

Portuguese paleontologist Pereira de Lima described the species Eurypterus douvillei (today seen as Adelophthalmus douvillei) in 1890 based on fossils from Bussaco in Portugal.

Twentieth century
In 1907, Henry Woodward described Eurypterus moyseyi (today recognized as Adelophthalmus moyseyi) based on fossils recovered from Radstock, Somerset in England. Woodward compared the singular specimen of E. moyseyi to fossil specimens of A. mansfieldi from America, finding the spikes along the abdomen very similar, though noted that they were less prominent in E. moyseyi. Woodward described very large fossil specimens, the carapace alone measuring 21 cm (8.3 in) and the seven associated body segments measuring an additional 25 cm (9.8) together. Despite this, the latest available size estimates for A. moyseyi put the species at 12 cm (4.7 in) in length.

A. nebraskensis was described as Eurypterus (Anthraconectes) nebraskensis in 1914 by American geologist Erwin H. Barbour based on fossils recovered in Nebraska, USA. The species was described alongside other fossils from the associated sediments, which helped reinforce the idea as Adelophthalmus (or Anthraconectes) as a freshwater animal.

The species A. dumonti, Carboniferous in age, was described by Belgian paleontologist Xavier Stainier in 1915 as Eurypterus dumonti. The type specimen, a relatively complete fossil measuring just 3.3 centimetres (1.3 in) in length, was discovered through boring at a new coalfield in Campine, northern Belgium. Though the fossil had been slightly damaged, including the entire counterpart being fragmented, owing to careless usage of hammers and diamond bores during excavation, the fossil could nevertheless be studied in detail and compared to known eurypterid species. As Stainier considered every known Carboniferous eurypterid to be part of the genus Eurypterus (among them several species today recognized as Adelophthalmus, such as the type species A. granosus, A. imhofi and A. pennsylvanicus), he classified the new Belgian eurypterid in that genus as well. He did note that the new species was very similar to species such as E. pennsylvanicus and especially E. mansfieldi (both seen as species of Adelophthalmus today). The species name dumonti honors the prominent Belgian geologist André Dumont.

The American geologist Amadeus William Grabau described the species Anthraconectes chinensis in 1920, based on fossils discovered in Zhaozezhuang, China.

Canadian geologist Walter A. Bell described the species A. bradorensis in 1922 (as a species of Anthraconectes) based on a single fossil recovered in New Campbelton in the Municipality of the County of Victoria, Canada, referring it to the genus due to similarities with the Scottish A. kidstoni and the American A. mansfieldi.

1924 saw the description of the species Anthraconectes sellardsi by American paleontologist Carl Owen Dunbar based on two incomplete fossils and few other small fragments from Elmo in Kansas. The first specimen preserves the carapace and the first four tergites of the preabdomen, while the second preserves five preabdominal and three postabdominal tergites; this specimen represents twice the size of the first one.

The species A. oklahomensis was described by American paleontologist Carl E. Decker in 1938 based on Permian-age fossils in Oklahoma. Since the A. oklahomensis specimen was virtually identical to specimens of A. sellardsi of similar age and a similar stratigraphical horizon in Kansas, A. oklahomensis was designated a junior synonym of A. sellardsi by American geologist Carl Colton Branson, with the support of Decker, in 1959.

The type specimen of A. zadrai, MB.A. 889, was collected in the Czech Republic in 1930 or 1931 and first mentioned in a manuscript by French Carboniferous worker Pierre Pruvost, who dubbed it "Eurypterus (Anthraconectes) Zadrai", but he did not formally describe the specimen or taxon. Pruvost had previous experience with the genus, having described the species Anthraconectes cambieri in 1930 based on fossils from Charleroi, Belgium. A. zadrai was first described formally in 1952 as Adelophthalmus zadrai, at a point in time when the type specimen was seemingly lost. The specimen was rediscovered in Berlin under a different species name based on the original collector of the fossil (Dr. Palisa) and without any designation of it representing a type specimen. Pruvost was also honored through the naming of A. pruvosti (described as Lepidoderma pruvosti by Norwegian paleontologist Erik N. Kjellesvig-Waering in 1948 based on fossils discovered in Lens, France).

1933 saw Ukrainian paleontologist Boris Isidorovich Chernyshev describe the species A. carbonarius based in one single specimen from the Donets in Ukraine. A new expedition in 2012 carried out by Russian paleontologist Evgeniy S. Shpinev and others in the respectively Russian and Ukrainian localities of Kakichev and Lomuvatka brought a number of well-preserved, presumably juvenile, fossils of A. carbonarius. The exact identification of these fossils is not possible, but they are identified as A. carbonarius since there are no features showing the opposite. Another Belgian species, A. corneti, was described by Pruvost in 1939 based on fossils from Quaregnon.

All synonymous genera; Anthraconectes, Glyptoscorpius, Lepidoderma and Polyzosternites, were subsumed into Adelophthalmus in studies during the middle twentieth century, notably that of Belgian paleontologist Fredrik Herman van Oyen (1956). Though most authors assign all described species to Adelophthalmus, some, such as van Oyen in 1956, have considered Anthraconectes to potentially represent a distinct genus, citing that scorpions with similar dorsal anatomies can be quite different ventrally and that the same could be true for the Carboniferous Adelophthalmus where the ventral morphology is not yet known. A genus Anthraconectes of this nature would be problematic due to its classification depending on the preservational state of any given specimen.

A. asturica was described as Lepidoderma asturica by Spanish paleontologist Bermudo Meléndez in 1971 based on fossils from d'Ablana in Spain.

The species A. luceroensis was described by American paleontologists Barry S. Kues and Kenneth K. Kietzke in 1981 based on 150 fossil specimens recovered from the Madera Formation of New Mexico. The large amount of specimens recovered, representing individuals at various stages of development and ontogeny, allowed detailed studies to be performed on the ontogeny and intraspecific variation within Adelophthalmus.

American paleontologist Roy E. Plotnick referred a species of Eurypterus, E. lohesti (first described in 1889) to Adelophthalmus in 1983 (as A. lohesti), but this classification is questionable as the morphology of the A. lohesti specimen is not consistent with that otherwise known of Adelophthalmus. The differences include A. lohesti having larger eyes, a wider carapace and what could possible by a median ridge on the carapace.

Twenty-first century

In 2004, the German paleontologist Markus Poschmann referred the species A. sievertsi, first described as part of the genus Rhenopterus by Norwegian paleontologist Leif Størmer in 1969 based on fossil remains from the Devonian Klerf Formation in Germany, to the genus. Poschmann also referred the species Rhenopterus waterstoni (described earlier in 2004 based on the singular specimen BMNH In 60174 from the Late Devonian of Australia) to Adelophthalmus. This species had previously not been assigned to the genus despite clear similarities to other species of Adelophthalmus partly due to there previously not being any solid evidence for the presence of Adelophthalmus as early as the Devonian.

A. irinae was described in 2006 based on a fossil specimens (including the holotype, a prosoma, "head", with the specimen number PIN no. 5109/4) collected by the Krasnoyarsk Geological Expedition near Sakhapta, a village in the Nazarovsky District of the Krasnoyarsk Region of Russia. The fossils, from the Tournaisian Solomennyi Stan Formation, could confidently be assigned to Adelophthalmus based on their scalelike ornamentation, the position of their eyes and the shape of the carapace shortly after their excavation. The species is the first species of Adelophthalmus to be described from Russia and the first ever Carboniferous eurypterid known from the country. It is also one of few Carboniferous eurypterids found within the territory of the former Soviet Union, the only others being A. carbonarius from Ukraine and Unionopterus from Kazakhstan.

Shpinev described two new species of Adelophthalmus in 2012; A. kamyshtensis and A. dubius (the name deriving from the Latin dubius = "doubtful"), both based on fossils originally collected by Russian geologist Yuriy Fedorovich Pogonya-Stefanovich in 1960 in deposits 3 km southeast of the village of Kamyshta (which lent its name to A. kamyshtensis) of the Republic of Khakassia, Russia and now housed at the Borissiak Paleontological Institute. Despite how poorly preserved these fossils are, several features (notably the parabolic carapace and the presence of spikes along the abdomen) place both species within Adelophthalmus.

In 2013, A. piussii became the first eurypterid to be described from Italy. The specimen (specimen number MFSNgp 31681, housed at the Museo Friulano di Storia Naturale in Udine) was collected in the gravel bank of a small creek near the greater Bombaso creek, north of the village of Pontebba and consists of a carapace and seven opisthosomal segments on a large block of sandstone. The name of the species, piussii, honors the collector of the type specimen, Stefano Piussi.

In 2018, Shpinev and Russian researcher A. N. Filimonov described a new species named A. khakassicus based in many well-preserved specimens. Found in the Ilemorovskaya Formation of Khakassia (hence the name) in 2014 by Filimonov, it represents the biggest species of the genus. The holotype, PM TGU 168/108, is composed of parts of the metasoma and a complete telson, with several other known paratypes. As A. khakassicus is known from similar stratigraphic levels to those of A. kamyshtensis and A. dubius, it has been suggested that these three species could represent synonyms.

In 2020, Lamsdell, Victoria E. McCoy, Opal A. Perron-Felle and Melanie J. Hopkins described a new species of Adelophthalmus from the Tournaisian stage of (most likely) the Lydiennes Formation, in France. Its only known specimen, GLAHM A23113, is a nearly complete body only lacking the telson and preserved in phosphatic nodules. For this reason, it was called Adelophthalmus pyrrhae, named after Pyrrha of Thessaly, a figure from Greek mythology who, together with her husband Deucalion, threw stones that transformed into babies to repopulate the world. The good preservation of A. pyrrhae allowed researchers to examine parts of its respiratory system, and after their study it was confirmed that even if they had a mostly aquatic lifestyle, the eurypterids could venture on to land for long periods.

Evolutionary history

Devonian

The adelophthalmids likely first appeared in the waters of the continent Baltica in the Late Silurian, being a part of a rapid diversification of swimming eurypterids (suborder Eurypterina) throughout the Silurian. Baltica would later collide with the continents Avalonia and Laurentia and form the landmass Euramerica, where most of basal adelophthalmid evolution took place in the Early Devonian. The earliest known species of Adelophthalmus is A. sievertsi from Early Devonian (Emsian) deposits of the Klerf Formation in Wilwerath (in the Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany, then part of Avalonia within Euramerica. A. sievertsi lived in near-shore environments, typically a varied and unstable habitat, which indicates that Adelophthalmus was eurytopic (capable of surviving in a wide range of environments).

Three other species from the Middle Devonian, A. khakassicus, A. kamyshtensis and A. dubius, are the earliest known species of Adelophthalmus from outside Europe, fossils of the three having been recovered from Khakassia in Russia. By the Late Devonian, Adelophthalmus had already become widespread, with the species A. waterstoni having been recovered from deposits of Frasnian (~382.2 to 372.2 million years old) age in the Gogo Formation of Western Australia, the only eurypterid with the exception of Acutiramus and Pterygotus known from the continent.

The only other species of Adelophthalmus known from the Devonian is the Famennian (latest Devonian) A. lohesti, known from fossil deposits at Pont de Bonne in Liège, Belgium. Alongside a Famennian species of Hibbertopterus, H. dewalquei, A. lohesti represents the oldest known eurypterid hitherto discovered in Belgium. A. lohesti is however represented by a single fragmentary specimen whose identification as Adelophthalmus or even eurypterine at large is questionable, with it possibly representing a stylonurid eurypterid instead. Devonian specimens of Adelophthalmus have allegedly also been recovered from Siberia, which would mean that the range of the genus included water around all then existing continents.

The eurypterids were one of the groups most heavily affected by the Late Devonian extinction event, following a major decline in diversity during the Early Devonian, eurypterids were rare in marine environments by the Late Devonian. Of the 16 eurypterid families that had been alive at the beginning of the Devonian, only three persisted into the Carboniferous. All of these were non-marine groups. Whilst the suborder Stylonurina was relatively unscathed, adapting new strategies (such as sweep-feeding) to avoid competition, and came to diversify once more in the Carboniferous, the Eurypterina was rendered almost completely extinct, Adelophthalmus becoming the sole survivor of the entire suborder.

Carboniferous

Following the extinction of all other swimming eurypterids in the Devonian, Adelophthalmus became the most common of all eurypterids of the late Paleozoic, existing in far greater number than the surviving members of the Stylonurina, both in terms of the number of individuals and the number of species. Adelophthalmus experienced a rapid diversification through the Carboniferous, with 23 of its 33 species having been described from the Carboniferous alone, and reached its peak diversity in the Late Carboniferous. This diversification did not lead to the evolution of any new genera–Adelophthalmus remained the only genus of eurypterine eurypterids until the extinction of the group.

Already widespread and represented around all major landmasses in the Late Devonian, the amalgamation of Pangaea into a global supercontinent during the Carboniferous and Permian would allow the able swimmer Adelophthalmus to gain an almost worldwide distribution, with Carboniferous-age fossils of Adelophthalmus having been recovered from the United States, Spain, Belgium, Ukraine, China, Germany, the Czech Republic, Russia, England, Wales, Scotland, France and Italy.

The Early Carboniferous saw the appearance of a few new species, notably A. approximatus, the earliest record of Adelophthalmus in North America (although this species may have occurred as early as the Famennian stage, the last stage of the Devonian). The genus also spread to modern day Scotland (A. perornatus recovered from fossil deposits of Early Carboniferous age in Glencartholm) and Asia (the Tournaisian-age A. irinae known from fossil deposits near Krasnoyarsk, Russia). The appearance of A. irinae is particularly notable as it represents the hitherto only known Carboniferous eurypterid in Russia. A. pyrrhae discovered in France is also known from this time. The Late Carboniferous would see the appearance of several more species in various places around the world. During the Bashkirian stage (from 323.2 to 315.2 million years ago), two species appeared in Belgium, A. cambieri from Charleroi and A. corneti from Quaregnon, and a third species, A. zadrai has been reported from deposits of Bashkirian age in Moravo-Silesia of the Czech Republic.

The abundance of the bivalve Anthracomya suggests strong evidence of freshwater deposition in the habitat of A. bradorensis, a Radstockian (Upper Westphalian) species from Canada.

The Moscovian stage (from 315.2 to 307 million years ago) saw the appearance of several new species, including the two German species A. raniceps and A. granosus, both from Saarbrücken. Further Moscovian-age species include a variety of Adelophthalmus from Europe and North America; A. asturica from d’Ablana, Spain, A. kidstoni from Radstock, England, A. imhofi from Vlkhys, Czech Republic, A. mazonensis from Illinois, USA, A. moyseyi from Blaengarw, Wales, A. pennsylvanicus from Pennsylvania, USA, A. pruvosti from Lens, France, A. wilsoni from Radstock, England and A. dumonti from Mechelen-sur-Meuse, Belgium. The very latest Carboniferous and early Permian would see the appearance of A. mansfieldi in Pennsylvania, USA and A. chinensis from Zhaozezhuang, China. Furthermore, the species A. piussii has been recovered from Late Carboniferous deposits in the Carnic Alps of Italy, the first and hitherto only eurypterid known from the country.

Permian

The Permian fossil record of Adelophthalmus includes five species, all of which were confined to the Early Permian. The first stage of the period, the Asselian (from 298.9 to 295 million years ago), saw the appearance of A. luceroensis in New Mexico, USA, A. douvillei in Bussaco, Portugal and the continued survival of the Carboniferous Chinese species A. chinensis. A. douvillei lasted until the subsequent stage, the Sakmarian (from 295 to 290.1 million years ago), which also saw the appearance of A. nebraskensis in Nebraska, USA. A. nebraskensis is known to have lived in a freshwater environment, its fossil being found in association with fossils of land plants. The youngest described species is A. sellardsi, known from the Artinskian (290.1 to 283.5 million years ago) stage of Elmo in Kansas, USA.

Out of all known species of Adelophthalmus, the final stragglers of the genus (A. luceroensis and A. sellardsi) were most similar to the very earliest known species, A. sievertsi, despite being separated by a timespan of more than a hundred million years. The similarities  are likely due to a generalized, and not a specialized, ecological niche. This morphological conservatism in Adelophthalmus suggests that the genus became bradytelic, evolving at a slower rate than the standard rate among eurypterids. Typically, bradytelic organisms have a broad geographical spread, something that was seen in Adelophthalmus over the course of the late Devonian and Carboniferous.

As with many other species of Adelophthalmus, A. luceroensis appears to have lived in environments of brackish to fresh water on a deltaic plain adjacent to a coastal plain. Climate conditions favorable for the spread and maintenance of such environments were optimal during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian, with Adelopthalmus being widespread and numerous in these times. In most of the locations Adelophthalmus was present it appears to have been similar ecologically.

Though habitats of this kind were many, widespread and ecologically stable for a time in the early Permian, they would turn out to be delicate. A changing climate during the Permian altered depositional and vegetation patterns across the northern hemisphere, which drastically affected previously widespread environments such as the signature Carboniferous coal forests as well as brackish and fresh water habitats. As their habitat vanished, Adelophthalmus dwindled in number. Whilst some stylonurine eurypterids (Hastimima and Campylocephalus) that occupied niches outside of these habitats continued to survive for a time, Adelophthalmus, restricted to a rapidly disappearing type of environment, became extinct.

Classification

Adelophthalmus is classified as part of (and lends its name to) the family Adelophthalmidae, the only family within the superfamily Adelophthalmoidea, alongside the genera Parahughmilleria, Nanahughmilleria, Bassipterus, Pittsfordipterus and Eysyslopterus. The cladogram below presents the inferred phylogenetic positions of most of the genera included in the three most derived superfamilies of the Eurypterina suborder of eurypterids (Adelophthalmoidea, Pterygotioidea and the waeringopteroids), as inferred by O. Erik Tetlie and Markus Poschmann in 2008, based on the results of a 2008 analysis specifically pertaining to the Adelophthalmoidea and a preceding 2004 analysis.

A close relationship between the three groups is confirmed partly due to basal members of all three groups, Orcanopterus, Eysyslopterus and Herefordopterus, sharing similar carapace shapes. Adelophthalmus being the most derived member of its family is confirmed by its swimming appendages being the thinnest of all included genera and by its eyes being the closest to the center of the carapace. In adelophthalmoids, eyes appear to get closer to the center of the carapace with every more derived genus, and even though eye position may reflect lifestyles and inhabited environments, they are also assumed to (particularly in this case, with a clear progression) include phylogenetically important information.

Internal phylogeny and monophyly

The internal phylogeny and relationships within Adelophthalmus are poorly known, owing to its long history and the large amount of species assigned to the genus, many based on fragmentary remains.

American paleontologist Victor P. Tollerton suggested in 1989 that some species of Adelophthalmus may be better placed within a new genus in the Slimonidae family of eurypterids, citing their lack of spines, however noted that the then presently available material of Adelophthalmus made it difficult to assess if the legs truly were non-spiniferous. A new genus for non-spiniferous species could be phylogenetically supported, but transferring the new genus to the Slimonidae based on the loss of a feature which seems to have been lost independently in the two groups is not in line with common practice.

The cladogram below displays the results of a phylogenetic analysis conducted by O. Erik Tetlie and Markus Poschmann in 2008, featuring seven species of Adelophthalmus and excluding other species on the grounds that they were too incompletely known. All characters were treated as unordered and given equal weight. Orcanopterus, part of a clade that also contains Grossopterus and Waeringopterus, was included in the analysis as an outgroup to polarise the characters.

The results of the analysis showed that all the genera featured (including Adelophthalmus), with the exception of Nanahughmilleria, where the basal species N. patteni was assigned to the new genus Eysyslopterus, were (or had the potential to be) monophyletic. The monophyly of Adelophthalmus was supported by several synapomorphies, including the presence of an anterior triangle on the carapace (the function of which is uncertain), a central circular area of the carapace being raised, the eyes being further away from the margin of the carapace than from the ocelli, an oval metastoma, a long telson and the presence of epimera on the preabdomen.

A. sievertsi was recovered as more basal than other species, which fits with it also being the earliest known species in the fossil record, mainly due to the broad swimming appendage being similar to the broad appendages of Parahughmilleria and Nanahughmilleria. All other species of Adelophthalmus where this appendage is known possess one that is thinner.

The analysis left out many fragmentary species of Adelophthalmus, as their character states could not be confidently taken into account, and Adelophthalmus in terms of all the species it is recognized as containing can thus not be fully confidently stated to be monophyletic, more fragmentary species need to be redescribed and more phylogenetic characters need to be confidently established before the status of the genus can be certain.

Adelophthalmus as it is currently understood may form a monophyletic, and thus phylogenetically valid, group, but that it likely suffers from an under-splitting at the genus level and over-splitting at the species level. It is possible that the large amount of species form two or more distinct clades that could be split into different genera. Though most of the species included in the genus appear to form a monophyletic group, some species have been suggested to represent species of other recognized genera, with A. dumonti supposedly being similar to the obscure Unionopterus in its supposed trapezoid carapace (a feature now known to be incorrect and based on an incorrect illustration) and the large A. perornatus showing ornamentation similar to the one seen in the Hibbertopteridae.

Many of the more fragmentary species could very well be synonyms of more well known species. In particular, A. imhofi was suggested by Fredrik Herman van Oyen in 1956 to possibly represent a senior synonym of many species, including A. zadrai, A. corneti, A. cambieri, A. pruvosti, A. bradorensis, A. kidstoni, A. wilsoni and A. sellardsi. Van Oyen's synonymizations were based on ratios of the carapace alone, ignoring other important phylogenetic features as well as possible taphonomic effects (defects produced during fossilization) on the fossils. Subsequent research has proven the validity of some species, now defined based on clear and distinguishing characteristics, including A. mazonensis, A. mansfieldi and A. moyseyi.

The precise taxonomy and status of the species within Adelophthalmus is an ongoing area of research, perhaps the most important question that remains unanswered is the exact relationship between the type species A. granosus and the second oldest described species, A. imhofi, which could have major implications for the internal phylogeny of the genus.

Status as a wastebasket taxon
Adelophthalmus contains a large amount of species (33 as of 2020, the largest amount of any eurypterid), is geographically widespread, named a long time ago (1854) and the nominate form of a higher taxon (lending its name to the family Adelopthalmidae and the superfamily Adelopthalmoidea), meeting every criterion to be dubbed a "wastebasket taxon", a taxon existing for the sole purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit elsewhere.

Additionally, most of the species referred to Adelophthalmus were described by authors who were not eurypterid specialists (since eurypterid researchers mostly concentrated their efforts on the more diverse pre-Carboniferous eurypterids) and most descriptions lack in comparisons with previously described species of the genus. As such, the differences between species are often trivial, perhaps partly resulting from that the first overview paper on the taxon was published only in 1948, at which point 26 species had already been described.

Paleoecology

The Adelophthalmoidea as a whole mainly lived in environments near coastal habitats, with a preference for habitats with reduced salinity such as river deltas, estuaries or lagoons. Marine influences are often recorded from these habitats and the deposits carrying adelophthalmoid fossils, but typical marine index fossils (fossils that indicate a marine environment and ecosystem) are not found associated with the eurypterid remains. The occasional Adelophthalmus fossils found in obviously marine deposits, such as the Late Devonian Australian A. waterstoni, might have been transported from their original habitat. In the case of A. waterstoni this is seen as particularly likely as it is represented by a single specimen that is also the only eurypterid specimen collected from the formation in which it was found, the Gogo Formation of Western Australia.

In general, post-Devonian eurypterids are rare and occur in habitats of brackish or fresh water, having migrated from the marginal marine environments inhabited during the Silurian. The earliest adelophthalmoids, such as the Devonian Parahughmilleria hefteri, which are recovered in non-marine deposits such as in environments that were once brackish or estuarine habitats. The evolution of Adelophthalmus saw a shift from brackish environments to habitats dominated by fresh water. In habitats where both Parahughmilleria and early species of Adelophthalmus are found, such as in Early Devonian fossil sites in Germany where fossils of A. sievertsi have been discovered, Parahughmilleria are found in sections that are considerably more marginally marine than those sections inhabited by Adelophthalmus.

The largest presence of Adelophthalmus in freshwater habitats occurred in the Bashkirian and Moscovian stages of the Carboniferous, from which Adelophthalmus fossils are recovered in strata bearing coal (indicating a coal swamp environment) together with fossils of freshwater bivalves and terrestrial organisms. It is possible that these freshwater "conquests" are related to the diversification of the genus itself and the appearance of several new species during the Carboniferous, rather than reflecting a shift in the habitat preference of the genus as a whole. Indeed, these coal swamp Adelophthalmus seem to form a minority, with most species being confined to paralic or lowland basins in depositional environments with close connections to marginally marine habitats.

For instance, the latest surviving examples of Adelophthalmus in the Saar–Nahe Basin of Germany (Moscovian in age) are from a time in which the basin was either part of, or at the very least connected to, a western subsiding area and drainage of the basin was to the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, located 1,500 km (930 miles) southwards. With uplift in the south during the Pennsylvanian and Early Permian, drainage became routed to the Panthalassa Ocean to the north, which resulted in the basin being located 1,300 km (810 miles) further away from the ocean. In these younger deposits, Adelophthalmus is nowhere to be found, which indicates that a shift to an environment further away from the ocean caused the extinction of these populations, which indicates that several species needed some form of connection to habitats of marginally marine nature, even if they did not live in them.

Later fossil localities containing Adelophthalmus, from the Late Moscovian, the later Carboniferous and the Early Permian, show a larger presence in habitats with marine influence, particularly habitats of tidally influence estuarine environments. Despite Adelophthalmus spreading to fully freshwater environments, their conquests of these environments was apparently not as successful as that of other similar groups, for instance some Carboniferous xiphosurans of the Belinuridae family, that occurred in freshwater lakes and basins that completely lacked eurypterids.

Diet and predation
As Adelophthalmus in many ways represented the last of its kind, being the final eurypterid to possess swimming appendages, it did not exist in diverse eurypterid faunas such as the ones observed with genera during the Silurian or early Devonian. Instead, the brackish of fresh water environments typically inhabited by Adelophthalmus, such as the Early Permian Madera Formation in New Mexico (where fossils of A. luceroensis have been recovered) preserve other organisms, such as insects, branchiopods, ostracods, millipedes and spirorbid worms. The thin and long paddles of Adelophthalmus indicates that it was a good swimmer, though it is likely that it spent most of its time crawling in the mud. As the chelicerae (frontal appendages) of Adelophthalmus were small, it is most likely that it fed on small organisms, possibly in part the ostracods and branchiopods known from associated fossils. There is a noticeable lack of insects in the fossil beds with dense plant fossils, where they should be more common, and a surprising abundance in fossil beds with few eurypterids, possibly indicating that Adelophthalmus fed on insects that had fallen into the water, hindering these from being preserved as fossils.

The localities in which Adelophthalmus have been preserved in the Madera Formation are all part of the Red Tanks Member, which does not preserve any known organisms that would have been capable of preying on Adelophthalmus. It is however likely that various predatory fish, amphibians and early reptiles known to have been present at the time would have preyed upon the small eurypterids. Both fish and amphibians are known from similar environments of the same age in the nearby Manzanita Mountains.

Respiration
Through X-ray microtomography imaging, researchers have been able to observe in detail the structure of the respiratory organs of the only known specimen of A. pyrrhae. A phosphate nodule on the ventral side of the animal is split in a manner in which the branchial chamber (gill tract) is visible. This uncovers four pairs of book gills (external gills arranged like the pages of a book), although they were probably five, as in xiphosurans. These are oriented horizontally and all of them but the ones from the sixth segment are fragmentary. There, they are oval in shape, attached near the midline of the body and consist of six lamellae. The number of lamellae in the other anterior segments is thought to have been higher, as indicated by some fragments and a specimen of Onychopterella augusti that had 45 lamellae in each of its four pairs of book gills from the second to fifth segments. Onychopterellas book gills, however, were vertically oriented. This and a fossil of the xiphosuran Tachypleus syriacus suggest that the book gills of A. pyrrhae underwent a taphonomic deformation and that they were originally vertically-oriented as well.

The dorsal surface of each lamellae is covered by regularly spaced pillar-shaped trabeculae located between each lamellae, leaving a space filled with hemolymph (a fluid found in arthropods, analogous to the blood of vertebrates) in each. Trabeculae are commonly found in arachnids with lungs and represent a terrestrial adaptation to breathe air. They prevent the lamellae from sticking together and eliminating the space between them, which would suffocate the organism. Therefore, the presence of trabeculae in A. pyrrhae indicates that eurypterids were able breathe in terrestrial environments with their respiratory organs unlike xiphosurans or other basal euarthropods. Its trabeculae are also highly similar to those of arachnids, especially that of a specimen of an indeterminate species of Palaeocharinus from the Devonian.

The presence of trabeculae also confirms that the kiemenplatten, ventral vascular structures of the eurypterids, acted indeed as active respiratory structures during air breathing as previously suggested. This and the evidence of land incursions made by stylonurines implies that eurypterids could stay out of the water for prolongated periods. This does not change the fact that they were predominantly aquatic creatures, just as their swimming paddles (which A. pyrrhae also possessed) indicate. Furthermore, it is possible that being out of the water would have been ineffective for them during their alimentation, limiting the time they stayed there. However, they may have moved from pool to pool to breed in safer locations, supported by the usual separation between adult and juvenile eurypterids in the fossil record and by the possession of spermatophores, which could have allowed eurypterids to store sperm for months to give them time to seek a secure environment.

Age-based segregation

In the Madera Formation, Adelophthalmus and associated organisms lived in bodies of brackish to fresh water in what is assumed to have been a deltaic plain. The lack of large coal beds suggests that the fossil localities which have yielded Adelophthalmus was a moderately elevated region with less dense vegetation and better drainage than the swamplands that occupied much of the rest of the United States. The discovery of a large assemblage of A. luceroensis, including several adults and juveniles, allowed researchers to determine different habitat preferences for different age groups. Larger individuals (adults) are found associated with large plant fragments, including branches of Walchia and leaves of Cordaites, but smaller individuals (juveniles) are found in fossil beds containing less organic material and mostly smaller plant fragments. The large plant fragments of the adult habitat were deposited in quiet conditions, likely through leaves dropping into enclosed lagoons or standing ponds.

The juveniles appear to have developed and lived in somewhat different conditions than the adults. In beds were juveniles are more common, insect fossils are more common as well, indicating a lack of adults that were capable of devouring them, and the presence of smaller plant fossils suggest a less prolific vegetation cover, the juvenile environment possibly having been lower areas on the delta plain between the ponds. Periodically, storms would drive marine water into the ponds, where salinity would thus be variable, while juveniles could live in fresher and less variable environments further away from the shoreline. It is possible that the adults mated in the streams that fed the ponds, and then returned to live in the ponds because of a richer food supply being present.

Age-based segregation of this kind between juveniles and adults of the same population is relatively normal in arthropods, for instance, juveniles of the related and modern Limulus live in different environments and regions than the adults. The advantage of this form of segregation is not only to allow younger individuals to live in conditions more stable from a salinity standpoint, but also to keep juveniles safe from situations in which substantial amounts of marine water decimated the populations in the ponds by altering the living conditions too much. In such a situation, younger populations could after some time recolonize the old habitats.

See also

List of eurypterid genera
Timeline of eurypterid research
Campylocephalus—the last known surviving walking (stylonurine) eurypterid.
Pterygotus—another eurypterid with an almost worldwide distribution.

References

Citations

Bibliography

Websites

Adelophthalmoidea
Eurypterids of Asia
Eurypterids of North America
Eurypterids of Oceania
Eurypterids of Europe
Devonian first appearances
Devonian eurypterids
Devonian arthropods of Europe
Devonian life of Australia
Carboniferous eurypterids
Carboniferous arthropods of Europe
Carboniferous arthropods of North America
Permian eurypterids
Permian arthropods of Europe
Permian arthropods of North America
Permian arthropods of Asia
Permian genus extinctions
Paleozoic animals of North America


Pendukeni "Penny" Iivula-Ithana (born 11 October 1952) is a Namibian politician who served as the secretary general of SWAPO, Namibia's ruling party, from 2007 to 2012. She was a member of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia in 1989 and has been a member of Parliament and member of cabinet since independence in 1990.

Iivula-Ithana served in several ministerial positions over a span of three decades. Her last ministerial post was in the interior ministry. After criticising the sitting president Hage Geingob and other senior political leaders in November 2017 she was dismissed from cabinet. She also lost her parliamentary seat at the end of the 2015–2020 legislative period.

Early life, education and exile
Iivula-Ithana was born on 11 October 1952 in Uukwandongo, Ongandjera, Ovamboland. In 1974 she went into exile and became one of the first woman fighters in the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN). She was active in the SWAPO Youth League and the SWAPO Women's Council whose Secretary she became in 1980.

Iivula-Ithana holds Bachelor of Laws and B.Juris degrees from University of Namibia (1999 and 1998), and a Diploma in Public Administration and Management from the United Nations Institute for Namibia in Zambia (1979). Ithana also holds an MBA from Namibia International University of Management.

Political career
Immediately prior to Namibian independence she was a SWAPO delegate to the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, and upon independence in March 1990 she became a member of the National Assembly of Namibia.

Iivula-Ithana served in several cabinet positions. She was deputy Minister of Wildlife, Conservation and Tourism from 1990 to 1991, Minister of Youth and Sport from 1991 to 1996, and Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation from 1996 to 2001. She was moved from the latter position to that of attorney general on January 26, 2001. In March 2005, when President Hifikepunye Pohamba took office, she was appointed to the additional post of Minister of Justice.

At SWAPO's August 2002 congress, Iivula-Ithana placed 23rd in the election for the Central Committee, receiving 310 votes. She was elected as secretary general of SWAPO at the party's November 2007 congress, becoming the first woman to hold that position.

Iivula-Ithana was one possible contender for SWAPO's presidential candidacy, a position determined at the end-2012 party congress. She lost to Hage Geingob and runner-up Jerry Ekandjo, coming third by a margin. This fifth SWAPO congress was followed by a cabinet reshuffle on 4 December 2012, in which she became Minister of Home Affairs.

In late August 2014, when SWAPO chose its list of parliamentary candidates for the November 2014 general election, Iivula-Ithana only managed to obtain the 86th spot on the list, a poor performance that made it seem unlikely that she would be elected to the National Assembly. Although she failed to make it into parliament in the election, she was subsequently chosen by President Hage Geingob as one of his eight presidential appointees to the National Assembly. When Geingob took office in March 2015, Iivula-Ithana was retained in her post as Minister of Home Affairs.

For the 2017 SWAPO electoral congress Iivula-Ithana campaigned against president Geingob, calling the leadership of government and ruling party "weak". She was dismissed from her minister position on 1 February 2018, along with fellow critic and minister Jerry Ekandjo. She also lost her positions on SWAPO's central committee and politburo, commenting in 2022: "The congress of 2017 stripped me of every accolade I have earned in Swapo and position in the government, and that was not pleasant."
Frans Kapofi succeeded her as minister of Home Affairs.

Controversies
When Iivula-Ithana became secretary general of SWAPO it was also decided that this post would become a full-time salaried position. It was consequently expected that she would leave her posts of justice minister and attorney general at the time of the next cabinet reshuffle. However, she remained in all three posts. It was reported that there were internal disagreements in the SWAPO Party regarding the issue of Iivula-Ithana's multiple jobs, with president Pohamba wanting to remove Iivula-Ithana from her cabinet posts while former president Sam Nujoma's supporters wanted her to retain all posts and opposed implementing the resolution.

During her term as Justice Minister Iivula-Ithana clashed with the Namibian Magistrates Commission over the dismissal of a magistrate. The Magistrates Commission successfully sued her, the case is  appealed by her in the Supreme Court of Namibia.

Awards and recognition
A school in the Omusati Region of northern Namibia, formerly part of Onamhidi Combined School, is named Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana High School after her. The primary section of Onamhidi Combined was also named after her but has been renamed Bernard Haufiku Primary School in 2021 in order to resolve the name duplication.

References

1952 births
Living people
Members of the National Assembly (Namibia)
People from Omusati Region
SWAPO politicians
Women members of the National Assembly (Namibia)
Women government ministers of Namibia
Justice ministers of Namibia
Youth ministers of Namibia
Sports ministers of Namibia
Land reform ministers of Namibia
Home affairs ministers of Namibia
Female interior ministers
Attorneys-General of Namibia
21st-century Namibian women politicians
21st-century Namibian politicians
Oshigambo High School alumni
20th-century Namibian women politicians
20th-century Namibian politicians


The  North Carolina Local Government Commission is a part of the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer which was created after the Great Depression to assist local North Carolina governments in decision making involving large financing projects such as bond issues. The commission is chaired by the North Carolina State Treasurer.

Structure and responsibilities
The Local Government Commission is a subagency within the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer. The body is made up of nine members: the state treasurer, who serves as its chair; the state auditor, the secretary of state, the secretary of revenue, three gubernatorial appointees, one State House appointee, and one State Senate appointee.

The commission is responsible for approving, selling, and delivering all North Carolina bonds and notes. It is empowered by statute to revoke the incorporation of financially-troubled municipalities.

History
The commission was created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1931. It was involved in the controversial Carolina Crossroads project near Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina and was criticized for lack of rigor in its evaluation of the proposal. In February 1997 the board assumed control over the finances of Princeville, the first time it had ever taken over the finances of a municipality. In December 2021, it voted to revoke the incorporation of East Laurinburg, effective June 2022, the first time it ever used this authority, after finding evidence of impropriety in the town's financial management.

References

Works cited

Further reading
 Coe, Charles K. (2007). Preventing Local Government Fiscal Crises: The North Carolina Approach. Public Budgeting & Finance, Volume 27, Issue 3, pages 39–49, Fall 2007.

 Fesler, James W. (1941). North Carolina's local government commission. National Municipal Review, Volume 30, Issue 6, pages 327–334, June 1941.

External links
Official site

Government of North Carolina
Local government in North Carolina
State and local government commissions in the United States


Melbournopterus is a genus of prehistoric chelicerate or brachiopod, known from the Upper Silurian of Australia. It is of uncertain taxonomic placement within the subphylum Chelicerata. Lamsdell, Percival and Poschmann (2013) argued that Melbournopterus crossotus is not a chelicerate at all, and interpreted its type specimen as the dorsal valve of a craniate brachiopod.

Description
If Melbournopterus is a chelicerate, it is distinguished by its prosoma (head), which is bell-shaped and emarginate in front, with subrectangular compound eyes located posteriorly on the prosoma, which strongly converge anteriorly.  It was small in size, and its abdomen and appendages are unknown.

Species
Melbournopterus Caster & Kjellesvig-Waering, 1953
M. crossotus, Caster & Kjellesvig-Waering, 1953, Upper Silurian, Australia

References

Prehistoric protostome genera
Prehistoric invertebrates of Oceania
Silurian animals of Australia


Mycterops is a genus of prehistoric eurypterid of the family Mycteroptidae. Mycterops lived during the Carboniferous period in Europe and North America.

Description
Mycteroptids were medium-sized to fairly large.  Their outer surface had numerous scales and reticulate ornamentation. Their first and possibly second tergites (dorsal surfaces of the abdominal sections) were strongly developed.  Their legs resembled those of Stylonurus.  The prosoma (head) was subtrapezoid, with small compound eyes.

Classification
The three genera included in the Mycteroptidae -  Mycterops, Woodwardopterus, and Megarachne - might represent different ontogenetic stages of each other based on the sizes of the referred specimens and the patterns of mucronation. This would sink the genera Woodwardopterus and Megarachne into Mycterops.

Mycterops whitei is a fragmentary species that might not be referrable to the genus at all if more complete specimens show that it has a caudal postabdomen.

Species
The species currently seen as valid species of the genus are:
 Mycterops? blairi Waterston, 1968 — Carboniferous, Scotland.
 Mycterops matthieui Pruvost, 1924 — Carboniferous, Belgium.
 Mycterops ordinatus Cope, 1886 — Carboniferous, Pennsylvania (United States).
 Mycterops? whitei Schram, 1984 — Carboniferous, Iowa (United States).

See also

 List of eurypterids

References

Carboniferous eurypterids
Stylonurina
Carboniferous arthropods of Europe
Eurypterids of Europe
Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope


Woodwardopterus is a genus of prehistoric eurypterid, or sea scorpion, classified as part of the family Mycteroptidae.

The genus contains one confirmed species, W. scabrosus, from the Carboniferous of Glencartholm, Scotland. Originally classified as Eurypterus scabrosus, it was later found to be generically distinct and placed as a member of the family Mycteroptidae. Later in 2005, was assigned to its own genus, and linked to a new own family, Woodwardopteridae inside Mycteropoidea, probably as a sister taxon of Megarachne. W. scarabrosus had carapace length about  and estimated total length about .

A possible second species, ?W. freemanorum, was named in 2021 and comes from the Changhsingian (Late Permian) beds of the Baralaba Coal Measures, Bowen Basin, central Queensland, Australia. This possible second species is important due to be the geologically youngest eurypterid discovered (at least 11 Ma younger than any previously known relative), showing that large sweep-feeding eurypterids persisted until the end-Permian extinction in the southern high latitudes of Gondwana. W. freemanorum was described by Andrew Rozefelds of Queensland Museum (also adjunct associate at Central Queensland University) and German expert Markus Poschmann of the Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe RLP. It was named after Nick Freeman, who discovered the large but incomplete fragment of the creature's cuticle about  long on his family property near Theodore in central Queensland in the 1990s. After being taken to the Queensland museum for identification in 2013, it was subsequently dated as being 252 million years old. Later research showed that this specimen was the last known eurypterid in the world, having lived not long before the end of Permian extinction event, in which around 96 per cent of all species went extinct. It was probably a large sweep-feeder commonly considered as mycteroptid ecology, estimated to have a length of greater than .

See also
 List of eurypterids

References

Stylonurina
Carboniferous eurypterids
Eurypterids of Europe