San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chis. The biologist and independent researcher, Miguel Ángel García Villafuerte, found a spider of the Thymoites carboti species, dating back 23 million years, embedded in a piece of amber, official sources reported.
They added that the finding of the insect that measures 3 millimeters, which is not yet on display, was made by the researcher in an amber mine located in the municipality of Simojovel, in the north of the state.
They pointed out that this new species, named Thymoites carboti, belongs to the Theridiidae family, which is a group with a wide worldwide distribution.
They stated that the discovery documents “the first and oldest representative of the genus Thymoites worldwide,” and “the first fossil record of the genus for Chiapas.”
The sources stated that in Chiapas there are 11 species of the genus Thymoites, therefore the amber fossil record of this genus raises the hypothesis that Thymoites settled in southern Mexico “for 23 million years.”
They commented that the record of fossil spiders in Chiapas amber is scarce compared to other deposits of this resin in the world.
A decade ago, local researchers began the formal study of amber spiders from this region, and as a result “several new species have been described.”
They affirmed that the investigations contribute to the study and knowledge of the origin of these species that inhabited the Chiapas territory, as well as in other parts of the country, which became extinct due to “geological transformation processes” and habitat.
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