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An opilioacarid mite in Cretaceous Burmese amber

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Abstract

A fossil opilioacarid mite (Parasitiformes: Opilioacarida) in Burmese amber is described as ?Opilioacarus groehni sp. nov. This ca. 99 Ma record (Upper Cretaceous: Cenomanian) represents only the third fossil example of this putatively basal mite lineage, the others originating from Eocene Baltic amber (ca. 44–49 Ma). Our new record is not only the oldest record of Opilioacarida, but it is also one of the oldest examples of the entire Parasitiformes clade. The presence of Opilioacarida—potentially Opiloacarus—in the Cretaceous of SE Asia suggests that some modern genus groups were formerly more widely distributed across the northern hemisphere, raising questions about previously suggested Gondwanan origins for these mites.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Carsten Gröhn for making this specimen available, Barbara Thaler-Knoflach for photographs of the living species, Ekaterina Sidorchuk for comments on Cretaceous mites, Paul Selden for discussions of biogeography, and the reviewers for valuable suggestions. LFOB acknowledges a CAPES/Brazil scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Jason A. Dunlop

  2. Setor de Ecologia/Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Campus Universitário, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Leopoldo Ferreira de Oliveira Bernardi

Authors
  1. Jason A. Dunlop
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  2. Leopoldo Ferreira de Oliveira Bernardi
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Correspondence to Jason A. Dunlop.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Dunlop, J.A., de Oliveira Bernardi, L.F. An opilioacarid mite in Cretaceous Burmese amber. Naturwissenschaften 101, 759–763 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1212-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1212-0

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