Burmesarchaea

Burmesarchaea grimaldii
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Archaeidae
Genus: †Burmesarchaea
Wunderlich, 2008[1]
Species: †B. grimaldii
Binomial name
Burmesarchaea grimaldii
(Penney, 2003)[1]

Burmesarchaea is an extinct genus of spiders, placed in the family Archaeidae. As of October 2016, only one species has been assigned to the genus, Burmesarchaea grimaldii, found in Cretaceous Burmese amber,[1] dated to 88–95 million years ago.[2]

Description

Burmesarchaea grimaldii is only known from a single male specimen preserved in amber. It is a small spider, with a body length of just under 2 mm. Characteristic of the family Archaeidae, the head region is raised up from the thorax, although without the distinctive "neck" found in other genera in the family. It is presumed to have eight eyes (the posterior median eye is not visible); the anterior median eye is the largest. The chelicerae ("jaws") are long relative to the body at about 0.8 mm, and project forward at about 45 degrees. The longest leg, the first, is 3.3 mm long; the shortest, the third, is 1.7 mm long. All the legs are without spines. The pedipalp has a large, rounded bulb with a spoon-shaped embolus and bent tegular apophysis.[2]

Taxonomy

A fossil spider from Burmese amber was first described by David Penny in 2003, as Afrarchaea grimaldii.[2] The species name grimaldii honours David Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History for his contributions to the study of amber and for assistance with the specimen. In 2008, J. Wunderlich transferred A. grimaldii to his newly erected genus, Burmesarchaea.[1][3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dunlop, J.A.; Penney, D. & Jekel, D. (2016), "A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives, version 17.5" (PDF), World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-10-15
  2. 1 2 3 Penney, D. (2003), "Afrarchaea grimaldii, a new species of Archaeidae (Araneae) in Cretaceous Burmese amber" (PDF), Journal of Arachnology, 31: 122–130, retrieved 2016-10-15
  3. ↑ "†Burmesarchaea Wunderlich 2008 (spider)", The Paleobiology Database, retrieved 2016-10-15
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