The first fossil record of the rove beetle subfamily Protopselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber
Abstract
Protopselaphinae is a small rove beetle subfamily endemic to southeast Asia with only eight extant species placed into a single genus. Here we describe and illustrate the first fossil representative of Protopselaphinae, Protopselaphus thayerae sp. nov., from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Albian-Cenomanian). The new species is distinguished from all extant taxa of Protopselaphus by having tarsomeres 1 and 2 not subequal in length and mentum with a shallow emargination. The new fossils provide evidence of an ancient origin of Protopselaphinae, a 'missing link' between the megadiverse Pselaphinae and other subfamilies in the Omaliine group. Protopselaphus thayerae sp. nov. is a testament to an extreme morphological and probably also ecological stasis in Protopselaphinae over the last 99 million years.
- Publication:
-
Cretaceous Research
- Pub Date:
- June 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104416
- Bibcode:
- 2020CrRes.11004416L
- Keywords:
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- Protopselaphinae;
- Mesozoic;
- Biogeography;
- Burmese amber;
- Myanmar