Palaeozygopleura Horny 1955

Palaeozygopleura Horný, 1955

Type species. Zygopleura alinae Perner, 1907 (SD: Horný 1955: 29).

Remarks. Devonian species of this genus were recorded from Europe, North America, North Africa and Australia. Blodgett et al. (1988, 1990) showed an Old World Realm distribution of the Palaeozygopleura, which most probably arose in the Rhenish - Bohemian Region of the Old World Realm, where the majority of the Early Devonian species (and also the oldest species) of this genus occur (Frýda 1993). Horný (1955) divided the genus Palaeozygopleura into three subgenera, P. (Palaeozygopleura), P. (Palaeozyga), and P. (Bojozyga). Knight et al. (1960) synonymized P. (Palaeozyga), and P. (Bojozyga) with Palaeozygopleura. In addition, the subgenera were not used for the majority of the newly described species of Palaeozygopleura (Linsley 1968; Rollins et al. 1971; Tassell 1982; Blodgett et al. 1988; Frýda 1993; Heidelberger & Bandel 1999; Heidelberger 2001, 2007; Krawczyński 2002, 2006; De Baets et al. 2010). Frýda (1993) discussed the usage of subgenera in Palaeozygopleura and concluded that their revision was needed. Frýda & Bandel (1997) transferred Palaeozygopleura (Palaeozygopleura?) kettneri into the new subgenus Palaeozygopleura (Bohemozyga). Later Frýda (2000) established the additional subgenus Palaeozygopleura (Rhenozyga) for some Early and Middle Devonian species (Frýda & Blodgett 2004). Recently, Wagner (2011) elevated some subgenera of Palaeozygopleura to genera (i.e., Bojozyga, Bohemozyga, Rhenozyga) within Palaeozygopleuridae. This classification is used here.