Baltic amber fossil of Garypinus electri Beier provides first evidence of phoresy in the pseudoscorpion family Garypinidae (Arachnida: Chelonethi)

A new fossil of Garypinus electri Beier, 1937, attached to the leg of a large tipuloid fly in Baltic amber, is described. This is interpreted as the first case of phoresy in the Garypinidae (here treated as a family distinct from the Olpiidae). The phylogenetic distribution of phoresy suggests that this behaviour has arisen independently at least five times in the order Chelonethi. It is argued that the pattern of clouding around fossils in Baltic amber reflects the initial zone of contact between the specimen and the resin, thus providing information about the mode of entrapment.