01940nas a2200217 4500008004100000022001400041245006400055210006400119260001500183300001100198490000700209520128900216653001501505653004001520653001601560653001801576100001801594700002701612700002401639856005901663 2013 eng d a0031-023900aGeophilomorph centipedes from the Cretaceous amber of Burma0 aGeophilomorph centipedes from the Cretaceous amber of Burma c03/10/2013 a97-1100 v573 a

The only previously known Mesozoic fossils of the chilopod order Geophilomorpha are two species from the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous, both known from single specimens that cannot be assigned with precision to a family. Four specimens from the Late Cretaceous (earliest Cenomanian) amber of Burma include three that can be identified as conspecific, described here as Kachinophilus pereirai gen. nov. sp. nov. These specimens preserve greater morphological detail in comparison with other fossil geophilomorphs: the form and fine features of the head, the maxillary complex, the trunk sternites with associated glandular pores and the ultimate pair of legs defend the assignment of the species to the extant family Geophilidae, and most probably to a derived subgroup including well-known extant genera such as Ribautia Brölemann, 1909. Confocal laser scanning microscopy supplements examination under incident and transmitted light to document details of high taxonomic relevance in the head and the forcipular segment. The modern appearance of this species and its membership among deeply nested extant clades are consistent with molecular estimates that most of the diversity of crown-group Geophilomorpha originated before the Late Cretaceous.

10aCenomanian10aevolutionarily conserved morphology10aGeophilidae10aKachinophilus1 aBonato, Lucio1 aEdgecombe, Gregory, D.1 aMinelli, Alessandro uhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.12051