The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman from Baltic amber

  • The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman (Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi) from Palaeogene (Eocene) Baltic amber is described. This is only the third fossil example of this basal harvestman lineage; the others being from the probably slightly younger Bitterfeld amber and the much older, early Cretaceous, Myanmar (Burmese) amber. Although incomplete and lacking most of the appendages, the new Baltic amber fossil can be identified as a female. The somatic characters preserved, especially spiracle morphology and the coxo-genital region, allow it to be assigned with some confidence to the extant genus Siro Latreille, 1796 (Sironidae). This fossil is formally described here as Siro balticus sp. nov. It resembles modern North American Siro species more than modern European ones, and can be distinguished principally on its relatively large size and the outline form of the body.

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Metadaten
Author:Jason A. Dunlop, Plamen G. MitovORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-266187
DOI:https://doi.org/10.5431/aramit4006
ISSN:1081-4171
Parent Title (German):Arachnologische Mitteilungen
Publisher:Arachnologische Ges.
Place of publication:Nürnberg
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2012/10/02
Year of first Publication:2011
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2012/10/02
Volume:2011
Issue:40
Page Number:8
First Page:47
Last Page:54
HeBIS-PPN:358236304
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 56 Fossilien, Paläontologie / 560 Paläontologie; Paläozoologie
Zeitschriften / Jahresberichte:Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnologische Mitteilungen, Heft 40 (2011)
:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-287755
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht