An unusual lineage of Helotidae in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Nitiduloidea)
Yan-Da Li
A B , Zhenhua Liu C , Diying Huang A and Chenyang Cai A B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, PR China.
B Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK.
C Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilisation, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510260, PR China.
Invertebrate Systematics 37(8) 538-551 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS23004
Submitted: 14 February 2023 Accepted: 5 August 2023 Published: 22 August 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.
Abstract
Helotidae is a small and morphologically uniform family in Nitiduloidea. In this study, we report an unusual form of helotids, represented by Lobatihelota lescheni Li, Liu & Cai gen. nov., sp. nov. and L. iridescens Li, Liu & Cai sp. nov. from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Lobatihelota is unique within the family in having a leg morphology typical of some Nitidulidae and Kateretidae (tibia widened distally, tarsomeres 1–3 bilobed, tarsomere 4 shortened). Additionally, new diagnostic characters are suggested for Trihelota from the same deposit (prosternum and mesoventrite with paired carinae, metanepisterna short, metacoxae meeting elytra laterally), and the morphological divergence of representative genera of the superfamilies Erotyloidea, Nitiduloidea and Cucujoidea is visualised using a phylomorphospace approach.
ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FE0E4D6A-8157-4E14-9240-7B87F285AEA5
Keywords: Burmese amber, Cucujoidea, fossil, Helotidae, Nitiduloidea, phylogeny, phylomorphospace, taxonomy.
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