{{Short description|Fossil genus of arthropod}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Late Ordovician, {{fossil range|455}} | image = Anji Biota.jpg | image_caption = Reconstruction of ''A. anjiensis'' swimming through a glass sponge reef. | parent_authority = Wang ''et al''., 2023 | display_parents = 3 | genus = Archopterus | species = anjiensis | authority = Wang ''et al''., 2023 }}
'''''Archopterus''''' is a genus of eurypterid in the family Pittsfordipteridae,'''<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last=Lamsdell|first=James C.|date=2025|title=Codex Eurypterida: A Revised Taxonomy Based on Concordant Parsimony and Bayesian Phylogenetic Analyses|journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History|volume=2025|issue=473|pages=135|doi=10.1206/0003-0090.473.1.1}}</ref>''' represented by one species. It was discovered in the Wenchang Formation of Tianfucun, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, South China. This genus is represented by a single species ('''''Archopterus anjiensis''''') from the Ordovician, the oldest species from China and also of its family.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Han |last2=Braddy |first2=Simon J. |last3=Botting |first3=Joseph |last4=Zhang |first4=Yuandong |date=2023 |title=The first documentation of an Ordovician eurypterid (Chelicerata) from China |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/first-documentation-of-an-ordovician-eurypterid-chelicerata-from-china/2F0762857D48061467555E2C91387957 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |language=en |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=606–611 |doi=10.1017/jpa.2023.21 |bibcode=2023JPal...97..606W |issn=0022-3360|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Ma-2023">{{Cite web |last=Ma |first=Zhenhuan |title=Ancient sea scorpion fossil discovered in Zhejiang |url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202306/01/WS6477ee7fa3107584c3ac34c2.html |access-date=2024-01-31 |year=2023 |website=China Daily}}</ref>
== Description == ''Archopterus'' was a predator that may have fed on small mollusks, crustaceans and worms.<ref name="Ma-2023" />
== Fossil importance == The only known fossil, found alongside various Hexactinellid sponges, graptolites, and nautiloids in deep-water shale, known as the Anji Biota, now extends the range of the family of Adelophthalmidae from the early Silurian to late Ordovician. This also now supports the theory of the evolution of eurypterids in Gondwana.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Ma-2023" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Eurypterida}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q122960461|from2=Q124460925}}
Category:Adelophthalmoidea Category:Ordovician eurypterids Category:Eurypterids of Asia Category:Fossil taxa described in 2023 Category:Monotypic prehistoric chelicerate genera {{Eurypterid-stub}}