A new species of camel spider (Arachnida: Solifugae) in Baltic amber

Abstract

A new species of camel spider (Arachnida: Solifugae) is described as Eognosippus fahrenheitiana gen. et sp. nov. from Eocene (Lutetian) Baltic amber. It is only the second species and third specimen of a camel spider to be formally described from this locality. Like the previously described Baltic amber camel spider, Palaeoblossia groehni Dunlop, Wunderlich & Poinar, 2004, the new species can probably be assigned to Daesiidae. It differs from the former species in its larger overall size and in the lack of any division in the fourth leg tarsus. The Baltic amber camel spiders are the most northerly Eurasian record of the order and their geographical position is compared to the distribution of their modern relatives. Camel spiders are also typically associated with open, arid habitats. Recent palaeobotanical data from Baltic amber is consistent with an environment which may have contained less densely forested and drier spaces.