Illicilondinium mckelveyi

“McKelvey’s illegal London”
Kingdom
Microsynthera
Phylum
Plasticae
Class
Occlupanida
Order
Orthogonidectes
Family
Archignathidae
Genus
Illicilondinium
Species
mckelveyi
External morphology

Size 26 mm x 21 mm

Discovered in London on Acton green, clasped to a bag of pitas in a Lebanese grocery store.  Since it was generally assumed that occlupanids were deemed extinct in Great Britain, this has come as quite a surprise. Though a small number of other species have been found since its discovery in 2003, it has the distinction of being the first occlupanid from the British Isles in our collection.