Cenotextricella

Cenotextricella is a genus of fossil spiders with one described species, Cenotextricella simoni, found in Eocene amber (c. 53 million years ago) from the Paris Basin in France. The male is only about one millimeter long. A female has not yet been discovered. As of July 2017, it is the only fossil record of the subfamily Micropholcommatinae[1] (now considered part of the Anapidae, but formerly recognized as a separate family[2]). Recent species in the family only occur in the Southern Hemisphere, in Australia and South America.[3]

Cenotextricella Temporal range: Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Anapidae
Subfamily:	Micropholcommatinae
Genus:	†Cenotextricella Penney, 2007[1]
Species:	†C. simoni
Binomial name
†Cenotextricella simoni Penney, 2007[1]

The spider probably lived in semi-deciduous or deciduous woodland near a river, in a warm climate with wet and dry seasons.[3]

Like all species of the subfamily it has eight eyes.

Name

The genus name is a combination of ceno (from Cenozoic, where the type species originates), and the closely allied extant genus Textricella. The species is named in honor of famous French arachnologist Eugène Simon (1848–1924).[3]

References

1. Dunlop, J.A.; Penney, D. & Jekel, D. (2017). "A summary list of fossil spiders and their relatives, version 19" (PDF). World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
2. "Family: Anapidae Simon, 1895". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
3. Penney, David; Dierick, Manuel; Cnudde, Veerle; Masschaele, Bert; Vlassenbroeck, Jelle; van Hoorebeke, Luc & Jacobs, Patric (2007). "First fossil Micropholcommatidae (Araneae), imaged in Eocene Paris amber using X-Ray Computed Tomography" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1612: 47–53. Retrieved 2017-07-30.