Rickettsial-like cells in the Cretaceous tick, Cornupalpatum burmanicum (Ixodida: Ixodidae)

•Rickettsial-like cells are reported from the body cavity of a Cretaceous tick.•The fossil cells are described in a new fossil genus and species.•Morphological features of the fossil cells resemble those of present day Rickettsiaceae.•The fossil cells were concentrated in groups corresponding to caudal diverticula of extant ticks.

Rickettsial-like cells are reported from the body cavity of the Myanmar amber larval tick, Cornupalpatum burmanicum (Ixodida: Ixodidae). These cells are characterized and described in a new collective fossil genus erected for putative rickettsia in fossil ticks. The size and shape of the fossil cells resemble those of present day members of the Rickettsiaceae, many of which occur in the body cavity of present day ticks.

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