trigonotarbid

plural trigonotarbids

1. Any a group of extinct arachnids (order Trigonotarbida) of the late Silurian and early Permian periods, resembling spiders but without silk-producing spinnerets.

   True spiders have not yet arisen, but trigonotarbids are arachnids that are superficially very similar.

   2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 215

   1 more example

   Around 70 different species of trigonotarbids have been recognised, mostly from the Carboniferous period, but some representatives are even older than the Rhynie Chert, pushing the origins of spider-like land animals back into the Silurian Period.

   2018 March 7, Elsa Panciroli, The Guardian