The oldest armoured harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores), from Upper Cretaceous Myanmar amber

Abstract

The oldest laniatorean harvestman, Petrobunoides sharmai gen. et sp. nov. (Opiliones: Laniatores) is described, from the Upper Cretaceous (lowermost Cenomanian) amber of Myanmar. This is the first fossil Laniatores recovered from Southeast Asia, which is placed in the extant family Epedanidae. It is also the first fossil known within the superfamily Epedanoidea; a relatively derived clade of Laniatores restricted to Southeast Asia today. At ca. 99 Ma, this new amber inclusion is substantially older than the previous oldest record of a member of Laniatores from Baltic amber (ca. 44–49 Ma); however, given the Palaeozoic age of Laniatores implied by molecular data, the new record from Burmese amber is probably still too young for constraining or calibrating the date of cladogenesis for total group Laniatores. Nevertheless, it provides a much better constraint for Epedanoidea, adding the first useful laniatorean fossil to provide an internal calibration point for a clade of Grassatores.