''Burmanopetalum'' is an extinct genus of

millipede Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a resu ...

containing the single species ''Burmanopetalum inexpectatum'' from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. It is a member of the order

Callipodida Callipodida is an order of millipedes containing around 130 species, many characterized by crests or ridges. Description Callipodida are long and narrow millipedes, up to in length with 40-60 body segments. A dorsal groove is present running ...

and is the only member of the suborder Burmanopetalidea and family Burmanopetalidae.

Description

The holotype adult female specimen is just over 8 millimetres long, which is extremely small for the order, it is distinguished by the presence of 35 cylindrical body rings with free

sternites The sternum (pl. "sterna") is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen. In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the ...

and fused

tergites A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'mar ...

, among other characters.

Discovery

The specimen was discovered in

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

, a productive amber deposit in Kachin State, which has been dated to earliest

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

, or approximately 99 million years old. As of the time of publication, it is the only known callipodid in the Burmese amber out of 529 known millipede specimens, most of which belong to extant families and even genera.

References

Burmese amber Callipodida Cretaceous animals of Asia {{myriapoda-stub