Nemastomoides is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of harvestmen known from the Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...

 fossil record. The genus is the only member of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Nemastomoididae and contains three described species. Nemastomoides elaveris was found in the Coal Measures of Commentry

Commentry

Commentry is a commune in the department of Allier in central France. It lies southwest of Moulins by the Orléans railway.-Population:-Economy:...

 in northern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, together with Eotrogulus fayoli.

Alexander Petrunkevitch

Alexander Petrunkevitch

Alexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch was an eminent arachnologist of his time. From 1910 to 1939 he described over 130 spider species.-Biography:...

 described two fossil harvestmen from Mazon Creek, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, USA, in 1913 in the genus Protopilio, but later synomymized the two with the genus Nemastomoides.

While N. longipes is a harvestman with long legs and a segmented oval body, N. depressus is in reality not a harvestman, but a poorly preserved phalangiotarbid.

While the Nemastomoididae are currently included in the harvestman suborder Dyspnoi

Dyspnoi

The Dyspnoi are a suborder of harvestmen, with about 32 genera, and about 320 described species.Several fossil species are known, including two extinct families.The superfamilies Ischyropsalidoidea and Troguloidea are monophyletic...

, they look more like Eupnoi

Eupnoi

The Eupnoi are a suborder of harvestmen, with more than 200 genera, and about 1,700 described species.They consist of two superfamilies, the Phalangioidea with many long-legged species common to northern temperate regions, and the small group Caddoidea, which have prominent eyes and spiny...

.

Species

• Nemastomoides elaveris Thevenin, 1901
• Nemastomoides longipes (Petrunkevitch, 1913)

Not a harvestman, but a phalangiotarbid:

• Nemastomoides depressus (Petrunkevitch, 1913)