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Abstract
A fossil millipede representative of the order Stemmiulida is described on the basis of a well-preserved adult female trapped in amber from the Miocene of Simojovel, Chiapas, south-eastern México. The fossil specimen is named as Parastemmiulus elektron, a new genus and species. As observed in extant stemmiulids, this fossil shows a reduced number of ocelli, the distal larger than the proximal, as well as a total of 46 trunk segments including 2 apodous segments in front of the telson. The head of this ancient stemmiulid has three ocelli and a Tömösváry organ, characteristics not reported before in Stemmiulida, requiring the diagnosis of the order to be emended.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:361400A8-37D4-421F-B4FD-A0AE63BE538C
Acknowledgements
This paper was submitted as part of the PhD-granting programme of Biological Sciences at the UNAM, financially supported by CONACYT. Funding to J.A.O. is provided by UNAM-PAPIIT grant 106011; additional support granted by PAPIIT-UNAM IN403210 and CONACYT endowment 131944.We thank Stefano Calabro, from the amber collection SUCCINUM2661 at San Cristobal, Chis., who generously helped in this project. We also thank Noé Lopez, Rene Hernández and Luis Zuñiga for field assistance at the Simojovel amber deposits. We thank Susana Guzmán (UNIBIO-UNAM) for photomicrograph assistance; and Dra. Ma. Del Carmen Perrilliat for access to the Colección Nacional de Paleontología, IGL-UNAM. We also appreciate the comments, corrections and critics from Drs Julian Bueno, Greg Edgecombe and Rowland Shelley, who kindly urged to prepare this manuscript; our communication and discussions do not necessarily imply their agreement with the views expressed here. The editor and referees also provided useful suggestions that improved the manuscript.