Priscaplectus gen. nov. and two new species in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae)

Zi Wei Yin*, Donald S. Chandler, Chen Yang Cai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Fossil taxa of the extant megadiverse subfamily Pselaphinae from Mesozoic deposits are sporadically documented. To date merely six genera and seven species have been reported from the upper Albian Spanish and Albian–Cenomanian Burmese ambers. Herein we describe a new genus, Priscaplectus gen. nov., and two new species, P. carinatus sp. nov. and P. grandiceps sp. nov. (type species), based on twelve specimens entombed in amber from northern Myanmar. The detailed morphologies of the new taxa are explored, especially notable is a nearly complete foveal pattern that is described for the first time for a fossil pselaphine. The integration of Priscaplectus into a phylogenetic context using combined morphological and molecular dataset suggested an affinity to Euplectitae. Nevertheless, due to the unsatisfactory knowledge of the internal tribal relationships, Priscaplectus is left incertae sedis within the higher Pselaphinae.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104174
Number of pages10
JournalCretaceous Research
Volume103
Early online date11 Jul 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2019

Keywords

  • Burmese amber
  • Evolution
  • Priscaplectus gen. nov.
  • Pselaphinae
  • Taxonomy

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