. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Geology. CHEIRIDIID PSEUDOSCORPION FROM BURMESE AMBER 81. Figs 2,3 Electrobisium acutum. In. 19123(3), Burmese amber. 2, Dorsal view of adult. Surface granulation only shown in part. Size and position of eyes uncertain; other doubtful or reconstructed parts shown by dotted lines. Femoropatella of left leg II broken; opisthosoma incomplete and slightly foreshortened. Diagonal line represents edge of amber. Scale line mm. 3, Chela of right palp, showing trichobothriotaxy (reconstruction, based on left and right chelae; not to scale). The possibility e
. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Geology. CHEIRIDIID PSEUDOSCORPION FROM BURMESE AMBER 81. Figs 2,3 Electrobisium acutum. In. 19123(3), Burmese amber. 2, Dorsal view of adult. Surface granulation only shown in part. Size and position of eyes uncertain; other doubtful or reconstructed parts shown by dotted lines. Femoropatella of left leg II broken; opisthosoma incomplete and slightly foreshortened. Diagonal line represents edge of amber. Scale line mm. 3, Chela of right palp, showing trichobothriotaxy (reconstruction, based on left and right chelae; not to scale). The possibility exists, therefore, that the species currently as- signed to Cryptocheiridium represent a heterogeneous assemblage. This would not be important in the present context, were it not for the possibility that even the species with strong dorsal spines might not be closely related. The vestitural setae of are covered by an exudate that gives them a leaf-like appearance, as in some species of Neocheiridium (Mahnert & Aguiar, 1986), whereas those of the South African species lack any covering. C. formosanum is also unusual in having a large tubercle on each side of the carapace (Ellingsen, 1912) and a long flange on the anterolateral margin of the palp coxa (pers. obs.). Given these differences, the possibility that the dorsal spines have arisen more than once has to be considered. This is not difficult to imagine, since they are evidently formed by the elongation of the normal granules found along the posterior margins of the carapace and tergites of most Cheiridiidae. The difference between granules and spines is simply one of degree. This is clearly shown by the ontogeny of the South African Cryptocheiridium, in which the spines are only fully formed in the adult. Because of these doubts concerning the monophyly of Cryptocheiridium, or even of a clade containing the spined forms, it is difficult to identify relationships between Electrobisium and Recent species. This
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