Abstract
Abstract. An unusually large acariform mite is described as Immensmaris chewbaccei gen. et sp. nov. from the Cretaceous (ca. 100 Ma) Burmese amber of Myanmar. With an idiosoma plus gnathosoma more than a centimetre long, it represents the largest unequivocal fossil mite ever recorded and approaches the maximum size of the largest living Acariformes today. Although some details of the dorsal idiosoma are equivocal, the new fossil appears to belong to Smarididae (Prostigmata: Parasitengona: Erythraeoidea) and also represents the largest erythraeoid mite ever discovered, indicating a clade of giant, possibly arboreal, mites in the Late Cretaceous of southeastern Asia.
Highlights
Acariform mites (Arachnida: Acariformes) are usually characterized by their small size and have idiosoma lengths, excluding the legs, typically in the 300–500 μm range (Walter et al, 2009)
An unusually large acariform mite is described as Immensmaris chewbaccei gen. et sp. nov. from the Cretaceous Burmese amber of Myanmar
Some details of the dorsal idiosoma are equivocal, the new fossil appears to belong to Smarididae (Prostigmata: Parasitengona: Erythraeoidea) and represents the largest erythraeoid mite ever discovered, indicating a clade of giant, possibly arboreal, mites in the Late Cretaceous of southeastern Asia
Summary
Acariform mites (Arachnida: Acariformes) are usually characterized by their small size and have idiosoma lengths, excluding the legs, typically in the 300–500 μm range (Walter et al, 2009). Several Australian species presently assigned to Microtrombidiidae and Trombidiidae (Parasitengona: Trombidioidea) have idiosomas reaching 4–6 mm A fossil erythraeid with a body length of 4.6 mm was described from the Early Cretaceous The dorsal idiosoma is not well preserved, the general habitus suggests affinities with Smarididae (Erythraeoidea). This discovery is significant as it is both the largest fossil acariform mite assignable to a family group and, by some margin, the largest erythraeoid ever recorded
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