A new genus and species of fossil pseudoscorpion (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) from the Eocene amber of Western India

Abstract

A new genus and species of fossil pseudoscorpion, Geogaranya valiyaensis gen. nov. sp. nov., is described from the Valia Lignite Mine, Cambay Basin, Gujarat. The new fossil taxon is exceptionally preserved in the early Eocene Cambay amber and is a member of the family Geogarypidae, with similar affinities to the modern genus Geogarypus (Chamberlin, 1930) recorded from Sri Lanka, India and New Guinea. The taxon is one of the smallest known adult fossils of pseudoscorpion in amber from the Cambay Basin and adds to the bark-dwelling arthropod biodiversity identified in the Eocene amber from Western India.