Cheliferoid pseudoscorpions (Arachnida, Chelonethi) from the Lower Cretaceous of France

Three pseudoscorpion fossils are reported from the Lower Cretaceous (uppermost Albian) amber of Archingeay (Charente-Maritime, France). These are the oldest described members of the Cheliferoidea Risso, 1826 and the first fossil pseudoscorpions to be described from France. Heurtaultia rossiorum n. gen., n. sp. is described from two incomplete adults. The new genus is characterized by having gaping chelal fingers, elongate tarsal setae on leg I (probably sexually dimorphic characters limited to male) and the basal position of the tactile seta on the tarsus of legs III and IV. The systematic position of Heurtaultia n. gen is uncertain, but it is provisionally assigned to the extant family Cheliferidae Risso, 1826. The third fossil is complete and probably represents a tritonymph of a different species of Cheliferidae, but it is not named. This specimen is partly enclosed in a layer of silk, which is interpreted as a moulting nest.