Type species. Proetus fernglenensis Weller 1909.
Diagnosis. See Feist & Petersen (1995: 105).
Remarks. Pudoproetus was first erected as a subgenus of Proetus by Hessler (1963). The subgenus classification was based on North American taxa of Mississippian age that shared characteristics with Devonian proetids (Feist & Petersen 1995; Hessler 1963). Hahn & Brauckmann (1988) elevated it as a monotypic genus within the Bollandiinae Hahn & Brauckmann 1988 due to it being much younger in age than other proetine taxa. This classification was questioned by Feist & Petersen (1995) based on it having a typical proetine glabellar outline, an absence of a frontal lobe and the presence of 10 thoracic segments. They also noted that the absence of taxa between the last proetine and Pudoproetus is not cause to remove it from the Proetinae subfamily entirely (Feist & Petersen 1995). The original designation of Pudoproetus in the family Proetidae is upheld herein.
The subgenus P. (Megaproetus) was described by Jell (1977). Owens (1994) stated that differences between P. (Megaproetus) and Pudoproetus as noted by Jell could be variable between species and, therefore, considered P. (Megaproetus) a junior synonym of Pudoproetus a view followed here.
Species included. Pudoproetus abnormis Yuan & Xiang 1998, Pudoproetus albiorix (Hahn et al. 1980), Pudoproetus auriculatus (Hall 1862), Pudoproetus brevis Yuan & Xiang 1998, Pudoproetus cambrertus (Jell 1977), Pudoproetus cellesensis (Hahn et al. 1980), Pudoproetus chappelensis (Hessler 1963), Pudoproetus expansus Yuan & Xiang 1998, Pudoproetus fernglenensis (Weller 1909), Pudoproetus guangxiensis guangxiensis (Zhu & Yuan 1988), Pudoproetus guangxiensis bellus Yuan & Xiang 1998, Pudoproetus hahni (Chamberlain 1977), Pudoproetus hoppeckensis Hahn et al. 2004, Pudoproetus incertus (Hahn et al. 1980), Pudoproetus mediterraneus Feist & Petersen 1995, Pudoproetus michiganensis (Hessler 1963), Pudoproetus missouriensis (Shumard 1855), Pudoproetus obsoletus (Kobayashi & Hamada 1978), Pudoproetus pila (Weber 1937), Pudoproetus priscus Feist & Petersen 1995, Pudoproetus sargaensis (Weber 1937), Pudoproetus teutates (Hahn et al. 1980), Pudoproetus toutiorix (Hahn et al. 1980), Pudoproetus ussuilensis (Weber 1937), Pudoproetus woodwardi (Etheridge Jr. 1892 a), Pudoproetus xiakouensis Yuan & Xiang 1998.
Age and distribution. Late Devonian to Late Tournaisian, in Australia, China, Europe, North America and Russia (Hessler 1963; Feist & Petersen 1995; Owens 1994).