Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of fossil pseudoscorpion from the Eocene-period Cambay amber of Western India.
Pseudoscorpions are an order of the earliest arthropods that colonized the landmass of the Earth during the Early Devonian epoch.
This diversified order occupies more than 3% of the total known arachnid species.
“Pseudoscorpions are an ancient lineage of terrestrial arachnids, which are morphologically similar to true scorpions but lack a tail and stinger,” said Dr. Priya Agnihotri from the DST-Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences and colleagues.
“Certain families possess a distinct venom apparatus in the chelal fingers of the pedipalps, which evolved independently from that of scorpions and spiders.”
“Recent studies have also supported the inclusion of pseudoscorpions as the sister group of scorpions.”
“Because of their delicate bodies and small size, these fossils are mostly discovered in amber deposits across the world, rather than in sedimentary deposits,” they added.
“Forty-nine pseudoscorpion species have been documented from the Baltic and Rovno amber which is of Eocene in age.”
The newly-discovered pseudoscorpion species belongs to the small family Geogarypidae.
Named Geogaranya valiyaensis, it shows strong resemblance with the modern genus Geogarypus from Sri Lanka, India and New Guinea.
“The family Geogarypidae is amongst those groups of bark-dwelling and litter-dwelling species which are similar to the family Garypidae in having a characteristic subtriangular carapace and eyes near the anterior margin,” the paleontologists said.
“The family contains more than seventy species with habitat preferences suitable in tropical and subtropical regions with a few reported from temperate biomes.”
“Geogarypidae are more common in the Baltic and Rovno amber with a few records from the Cretaceous Burmese amber.”
“Unlike their scarce records in fossils, their modern counterparts have been…
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