Correcting a 135-year error: Limulidae Leach, 1819 (Chelicerata, Xiphosura) is the proper authority, not Limulidae Zittel, 1885

Abstract

The horseshoe crabLimulus polyphemus(Linnaeus, 1758) is a famous species, renowned as a ‘living fossil’ (Owen, 1873; Barthel, 1974; Kin and Błażejowski, 2014) for its apparently little-changed morphology for many millions of years. The genusLimulusMüller, 1785 was used by Leach (1819, p. 536) as the basis of a new family Limulidae and synonymized it withPolyphemusLamarck, 1801 (Lamarck's proposed but later unaccepted replacement forLimulus, as discussed by Van der Hoeven, 1838, p. 8) andXyphothecaGronovius, 1764 (later changed toXiphosuraGronovius, 1764, another junior synonym ofLimulus). He also included the valid modern genusTachypleusLeach, 1819 in the family. The primary authority of Leach (1819) is widely recognized in the neontological literature (e.g., Dunlop et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2017). It is also the authority recognized in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board, 2021).