Cretoperipatus burmiticus is an extinct species of velvet worm that is known from the Burmese amber in Kachin state of Myanmar, originating from the Cenomanian-Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous.

Taxonomy

The species can be assigned to one of the modern families, the Peripatidae. While only five leg pairs can be discerned, the information gained from the fossil is enough to preclude assignment to any known modern genus.

Paleontology

The specimen of Cretoperipatus burmiticus is one of the two fossils confidently assigned to as onychophorans, along with the Late Carboniferous species Antennipatus. It was hypothesised that onychophorans could have migrated from Gondwana to Southeast Asia via the northwards drift of India. Research published in 2016 concluded that the age of Burmese amber supports an earlier migration through Europe. The same study also came to the conclusion that Typhloperipatus williamsoni is the closest extant relative of Cretoperipatus.