Dominican Amber - Fossil Ecosystems of North America: A Guide to the Sites and their Extraordinary Biotas - page 240

without a tail are the pseudoscorpions.
These little animals live in moss, under
bark, and in leaf litter, and several
genera in five families have been found
in Dominican amber. Pseudoscorpions
have a method of dispersal known as
phoresy: they grab onto an insect's leg
and hitch a ride until the insect lands on
a suitable new habitat. Such phoretic
associations are not uncommon in the

amber. Harvestmen (Opiliones) are
familiar long-legged arachnids which
commonly aggregate in huge numbers
under loose bark. Four genera have been
recognized in Dominican amber. Mites
and ticks are the most diverse animals on
land after the insects. Many are parasitic
on plants and animals and have sucking
mouthparts for this. Both free-living
mites ( 277 ) of many families and

276

276 Scorpion Microtityus
ambarensisPC. Length
12 mm 0.5 in.

277

277 A free-living erythraeoid
mite PC. Length about 1 mm
0.04 in.