A fossil stemmiulid millipede (Diplopoda: Stemmiulida) from the Miocene amber of Simojovel, Chiapas, México

A fossil millipede representative of the order Stemmiulida is described on the basis of a well-preserved adult female trapped in amber from the Miocene of Simojovel, Chiapas, south-eastern Mexico. The fossil specimen is named as Parastemmiulus elektron, a new genus and species. As observed in extant stemmiulids, this fossil shows a reduced number of ocelli, the distal larger than the proximal, as well as a total of 46 trunk segments including 2 apodous segments in front of the telson. The head of this ancient stemmiulid has three ocelli and a Tomosvary organ, characteristics not reported before in Stemmiulida, requiring the diagnosis of the order to be emended.