A mite of the family Tanaupodidae (Arachnida, Acari, Parasitengona) from the Lower Cretaceous of France

Atanaupodus bakeri n. gen., n. sp. is described from a postlarval specimen in amber from Archingeay, France (Albian, Lower Cretaceous). This mite is placed in the Tanaupodidae Thor, 1935 because of its general similarity to the extant genus Tanaupodus Haller, 1882, but this assignment is provisional because several important characters cannot be observed in the single available fossil. Extant Tanaupodus species are associated with freshwater habitats in Europe, which concord with the high frequency of aquatic taxa observed in Archingeay amber. This is the first fossil record of Tanaupodidae and the oldest described representative of the Parasitengona in amber. The use of the “Lassenia organ” in phylogenetic analyses of Parasitengona is criticized because its presence is symplesiomorphic within this group.