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Type: Short Communication
Published: 2019-12-20
Page range: 596–601
Abstract views: 249
PDF downloaded: 243

A new spider (Arachnida: Araneae) from the Middle Eocene Messel Maar, Germany

Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Friedensplatz 1, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany
Arachnida Araneae Cybaeidae Geiseltalian lacustrine Lutetian Marronoid clade

Abstract

The Fossil-Lagerstätte of Grube Messel, Germany, has produced some of the most spectacular fossils of the Paleogene (Schaal & Ziegler, 1992; Gruber & Micklich, 2007; Selden & Nudds, 2012; Schaal et al., 2018). However, few arachnids have been discovered or described from this World Heritage Site. An araneid spider was reported by Wunderlich (1986). Wedmann (2018) reported that 160 spider specimens were known from Messel although, sadly, few are well preserved. She figured the araneid mentioned by Wunderlich (1986) and a nicely preserved hersiliid (Wedmann, 2018: figs 7.8–7.9, respectively). Wedmann (2018) mentioned six opilionids yet to be described, and figured one (Wedmann, 2018: fig. 7.10). Here, we report a new, well preserved spider, Lutetiana neli gen. et sp. nov., the first to be formally described from the locality, which is placed in the Marronoidea (the Marronoid Clade of Wheeler et al., 2017), and possibly in the family Cybaeidae.

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