THE FOSSIL SPIDER FAMILY LAGONOMEGOPIDAE IN CRETACEOUS AMBERS WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES FROM MYANMAR

• Published in: Journal of Arachnology
• Main Author: David Penney
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: American Arachnological Society 2005
• Subjects: Taimyr
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1636/04-55.1

The spider family Lagonomegopidae was described a decade ago from two specimens in Upper Cretaceous Siberian amber from the Taimyr Peninsula, and placed in the superfamily Palpimanoidea. Lagonomegopidae is known only from Cretaceous amber. Undiscovered extant species are considered unlikely because of their frequent occurrence in Cretaceous ambers and their absence in Tertiary fossil resins. One aim of this paper is to bring the existence of this family to the attention of neo-arachnologists. Burlagonomegops eskovi new genus and species is described from Cretaceous amber of Myanmar (Burma) and Lagonomegops americanus new species is assigned to a previously described, but unnamed specimen from Cretaceous New Jersey amber.