Loading AI tools
Ancient species of velvet worm From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cretoperipatus burmiticus is an extinct species of velvet worm that is known from the Burmese amber in Kachin state of Myanmar, originating from the Cenomanian-Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous.[1]
Cretoperipatus Temporal range: Cenomanian-Turonian | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Onychophora |
Family: | Peripatidae |
Genus: | †Cretoperipatus Engel & Grimaldi, 2002 |
Species: | †C. burmiticus |
Binomial name | |
†Cretoperipatus burmiticus | |
The species can be assigned to one of the modern families, the Peripatidae.[1] While only five leg pairs can be discerned, the information gained from the fossil is enough to preclude assignment to any known modern genus.
The specimen of Cretoperipatus burmiticus is one of the two fossils confidently assigned to as onychophorans, along with the Late Carboniferous species Antennipatus.[2][3]
It was hypothesised that onychophorans could have migrated from Gondwana to Southeast Asia via the northwards drift of India. Research published in 2016 concluded that the age of Burmese amber supports an earlier migration through Europe. The same study also came to the conclusion that Typhloperipatus williamsoni is the closest extant relative of Cretoperipatus.[4]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.