Fossil fauna

The majority of recorded pseudoscorpion fossils are derived from Tertiary ambers as Baltic, Romanian, Mexican, Dominican or Chinese deposits. Only four pseudoscorpions have been recorded from Mesozoic ambers, Amblyolpium burmiticum [redescribed by Judson (2000)], and Electrobisium acutum from Myanmar, Heurtaultia rossiorum (Judson, 2009) from France, and an undescribed chernetid from Canada (Schawaller, 1991a). Other Cretaceous pseudoscorpions have been reported from Lebanon (Whalley, 1980), U.S.A. (Grimaldi et al., 2002) and France (Perrichot, 2004).

Of greatest interest was the discovery by Shear et al. (1989) and Schawaller et al. (1991) of a remarkable pseudoscorpion from the Palaeozoic–Dracochela deprehendor. Despite its great age, it shares numerous similarities with modern pseudoscorpions.

Skip to fossil fauna from the following periods using the links below:

• Cainozoic
• Mesozoic
• Palaeozoic