Glesirhanis bercioi, a new genus and species from Baltic amber (Coleoptera: Endomychidae: Leiestinae) with a checklist and nomenclatural notes regarding fossil Endomychidae
Author
Shockley, Floyd W.
Author
Alekseev, Vitaly I.
text
Zootaxa
2014
3755
4
391
400
journal article
46584
10.11646/zootaxa.3755.4.5
e8a9a9bf-63a1-48e5-9fc1-bdbbd0c8be8f
1175-5326
231257
13446D49-76A1-4C12-975E-F59106AF4BD3
Glesirhanis
,
gen.nov.
Type
species:
Glesirhanis bercioi
,
sp. nov.
Diagnosis.
Glesirhanis
gen. nov.
can be diagnosed from all other extant and fossil leiestine endomychids by the following combination of characters: 1) lateral and basal sulci clearly and deeply impressed; 2) antennae with distinct 3-segmented club, without enlarged 9th antennomere; 3) abdomen with 5 freely articulated ventrites; and 4) scutellum strongly transverse, widest basally and narrowing apically.
Glesirhanis
can be distinguished from the other fossil leiestine from Baltic amber,
Phymaphoroides antennatus
Motschulsky, 1856
, based on the size and shape of stalk antennomeres and structure of the tarsi, e.g., 1st and 2nd tarsomeres in
Phymaphoroides
are distinctly lobed and only weakly lobed in
Glesirhanis
. The original description by
Motschulsky (1856)
is verbatim as follows: “
Phymaphoroides antennatus Motsch.
, un Endomychide de la forme des Phymaphorus, mais avec le 9ième article des antennes brusquement élargi. Long. 1 lign.” [Translation: An endomychid beetle in form of Phymaphorus, but with the sharply dilated ninth segment of antenna. Length
2.25 mm
]. While
Phymaphoroides
has a greatly inflated 9th antennomere,
Glesirhanis
does not. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that this difference is sexually dimorphic (i.e., Motschulsky described a male while we describe a female herein) since dimorphism in antennal structure is known within
Leiestinae
.
Glesirhanis
can be distinguished from
Palaeoestes
Kirejtshuk & Nel
by the distinctly impressed lateral and basal sulci, which are at most only weakly impressed in
Palaeoestes
.
Glesirhanis
can be distinguished from all extant genera other than
Leiestes
Chevrolat
based on having the 3rd tarsomere not significantly reduced relative to the 2nd. Similarly,
Glesirhanis
can further be separated by virtue of antennomeres 9 and 10 appearing equal in size and shape rather than differing in size and shape, a feature previously reported as an autapomorphy of
Panaleis
. Finally,
Glesirhanis
has an abdomen with 5 freely articulated ventrites while
Panaleis
(as well as
Panamomus
and
Rhanidea
) have 6.
Etymology.
This new genus-group name is a combination of the Old Prussian word “glêsîs” or “glīsis” (amber) and Rhanis, one of the travelling companions of the goddess Diana. The gender is feminine.