A new genus of whip scorpion (Arachnida: Thelyphonida: Thelyphonidae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar

Familiar animals today, whip scorpions are rather rare in the Mesozoic and only three species are recognized from the Cretaceous. Here we describe a new genus and species, Crethypoctonus kachinus gen. et sp. nov. from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, clearly belonging to Thelyphonidae. It is characterized by its stout and long patellar apophysis of the pedipalps with attached microteeth and setae, and the absence of an ommatoid on tergite XII of the opisthosoma. Significantly, it lacks a keel and its abdomen is not divided. It not only augments the rare Mesozoic occurrence of whip scorpions with their distinct morphology, but reveals the long history of their evolution.(c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.