Arachnological information
https://arages.de/en/journal/arachnology-lettersDunlop JA & Mitov PG
The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman from Baltic amber
The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman from Baltic amber
Heft 40
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.
Cyphophthalmi; Eocene; new species; Opiliones; palaeontology; Siro; systematics