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Issue: Vol. 6 No. 5: October 2023
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2023-10-30
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.5.1
Page range: 443–446
Abstract views: 170
PDF downloaded: 10

Oribatid mites in Burmese amber I. First record of the family Achipteriidae (Acariformes, Oribatida) in Cretaceous amber, with the description of a new species of Cerachipteria Grandjean, 1935

Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China
Acariformes Oribatida

Abstract

Burmese amber originates from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar (Burma). Shi et al. (2012) proposed an age of ca. 99 Ma based on zircon dating, whereas Smith & Ross (2018) proposed an age of 100 Ma based on sediments inside amber produced by bored bivalves. Regarding the plant producing resin Cruickshank & Ko (2003) recorded spores both of Araucariaceae and Taxodiaceae origin. Poinar et al. (2007) proposed an araucariacean origin due to the similitudes with modern kauri pines (Agathis) from New Zealand, while Grimaldi & Ross (2017) suggested the possibility of a Cupressaceae (Metasequoia) origin. Although amber inclusions from Myanmar were first described by Cockerell (1916), great interest (and a huge number of papers) in this biota started only two decades ago.

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