First fossil Coloninae from Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Staphylinoidea: Leiodidae)
Abstract
Fossil leiodids are sparse, and they are confined to the Cenozoic. Here we describe and illustrate the first definitive Mesozoic leiodid, Colonellus burmiticus sp. nov., based on two well-preserved adults from the Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber. The fossil is firmly placed in the extant Coloninae based on multiple synapomorphies, such as antennae with normal-sized antennomere 8 and abdominal intersegmental membranes with "brick-wall" pattern. It can be further assigned to the extant genus Colonellus (subgenus Pentacolonellus) by its five-segmented antennal club. The discovery suggests that Colonellus is an ancient group, originating no later than the mid-Cretaceous.
- Publication:
-
Cretaceous Research
- Pub Date:
- September 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.cretres.2017.05.005
- Bibcode:
- 2017CrRes..77...69C
- Keywords:
-
- Leiodidae;
- Coloninae;
- Colonellus;
- Cenomanian;
- Burmese amber