Weinbergina

[3][4] Fossils of the single and type species, W. opitzi, have been discovered in deposits of the Devonian period in the Hunsrück Slate, Germany.[1][2] Based on the interpretation of Stürmer & Bergström (1981) and Moore, Briggs & Bartels (2005), Weinbergina is unusual in having 6 pairs of walking legs instead of 5 or less like those of other euchelicerates.[2][3][5] However, the twelve-legged interpretation is not universally accepted - for example, Weinbergina was originally described as ten-legged like extant horseshoe crab;[2] Selden, Lamsdell & Qi (2015) noted that the structures previously identified as distal regions of walking legs may be in fact leg-like exopods like those of Offacolus and Dibasterium, while the actual terminations of walking legs (endopods) are chelate (pincer) like those of horseshoe crabs.[1] However, the lack of doublure (ventral thickening run through the margin of carapace) suggests that Weinbergina is not adapted for a sediment-dwelling lifestyle as seen in the modern horseshoe crab.[1] Under the questionable[6] 12-legged interpretation, the legs with snow-shoe-like terminations instead of chela are also more adapted for walking on fine-grained surface instead of searching food items beneath the sediment.