Forfarella

Forfarella Temporal range: Early Devonian, 416–393.3 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Camera lucida drawing of the holotype and only known specimen of F. mitchelli
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Clade:	Dekatriata
Order:	†Chasmataspidida
Family:	†Diploaspididae
Genus:	†Forfarella Dunlop, Anderson & Braddy, 1999
Type species
†Forfarella mitchelli Dunlop, Anderson & Braddy, 1999

Forfarella is a genus of chasmataspidid, a group of extinct aquatic arthropods. Fossils have been discovered in deposits of the Early Devonian period. The single and type species, F. mitchelli, is known from one only specimen found in Scotland, in the United Kingdom. Known as BMNH In 60023, it is poorly preserved and its type locality is uncertain, although it might be the Kelly Den stream section near the village of Arbirlot.

Forfarella was very small, only reaching 1.7 centimetres (0.67 inches) of length. It had a nearly rectangular head, with its eyes being unknown but possibly represented by a tubercle in the fossil. Its abdomen consisted of an almost trapezoidal preabdomen and a long, tapering postabdomen. The telson (the posteriormost division of the body) is not preserved, but it was probably short. The appendages, known only from a few fragments, probably had swimming paddles that Forfarella used to swim actively.

The fossil of Forfarella was purchased in 1893 from a fossil collection. It was sent to the Natural History Museum in London. Decades later, in 1962, a paleontologist studied it and determined that it was a chasmataspidid, naming it Forfarella mitchelli. However, the paleontologist never formally published his findings. It would not be until 1999 when a group of three other paleontologists formally described Forfarella. Forming part of the family Diploaspididae, it was similar to Diploaspis and other Devonian genera, although it is speculated that Forfarella may have existed during the Silurian as well. It was a lacustrine animal, meaning that it lived in lakes.