Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Chelicerata Order Araneae Rank Genus | Phylum Arthropoda Class Arachnida Infraorder Araneomorphae | |
Similar Mecysmaucheniidae, Archaeidae, Araneomorphae | ||
Burmesarchaea is an extinct genus of spiders, placed in the family Archaeidae. As of October 2016, only one species has been assigned to the genus, Burmesarchaea grimaldii, found in Cretaceous Burmese amber, dated to 88–95 million years ago.
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Description
Burmesarchaea grimaldii is only known from a single male specimen preserved in amber. It is a small spider, with a body length of just under 2 mm. Characteristic of the family Archaeidae, the head region is raised up from the thorax, although without the distinctive "neck" found in other genera in the family. It is presumed to have eight eyes (the posterior median eye is not visible); the anterior median eye is the largest. The chelicerae ("jaws") are long relative to the body at about 0.8 mm, and project forward at about 45 degrees. The longest leg, the first, is 3.3 mm long; the shortest, the third, is 1.7 mm long. All the legs are without spines. The pedipalp has a large, rounded bulb with a spoon-shaped embolus and bent tegular apophysis.
Taxonomy
A fossil spider from Burmese amber was first described by David Penny in 2003, as Afrarchaea grimaldii. The species name grimaldii honours David Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History for his contributions to the study of amber and for assistance with the specimen. In 2008, J. Wunderlich transferred A. grimaldii to his newly erected genus, Burmesarchaea.