On the Nosodendridae from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Nosodendroidea)
Author
Li, Yan-Da
0000-0002-9439-202X
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
ydli@pku.edu.cn
Author
Tihelka, Erik
0000-0002-5048-5355
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China & School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS 8 1 TQ, UK & wn 20250 @ bristol. ac. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 5048 - 5355
wn20250@bristol.ac.uk
Author
Dahan, Loïc
0000-0001-5680-0304
O. D. Taxonomy and Phylogeny - Entomology, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstreet 29, B- 1000 Brussels, Belgium ydli @ pku. edu. cn; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 9439 - 202 X & loicdahan @ hotmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 5680 - 0304
loicdahan@hotmail.com
Author
Huang, Di-Ying
0000-0002-5637-4867
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China & dyhuang @ nigpas. ac. cn; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 5637 - 4867
dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn
Author
Cai, Chen-Yang
0000-0002-9283-8323
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China & School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS 8 1 TQ, UK & cycai @ nigpas. ac. cn; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 9283 - 8323
cycai@nigpas.ac.cn
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-12-17
5082
3
223
244
journal article
2910
10.11646/zootaxa.5082.3.2
3997d831-ae29-42d0-ba99-cd20cc8b7fc3
1175-5326
5788224
EFB0E4A5-6B60-4B39-A651-1C6470FD7222
Genus
Basinosa
Tihelka, Huang & Cai, 2020
(
Figs 15
,
16
)
Type
species.
Basinosa pengweii
Tihelka, Huang & Cai, 2020
.
Material examined.
Holotype
of
B. pengweii
, NIGP
173119.
Remarks.
The amber piece containing the
holotype
of
B. pengweii
is somewhat nontransparent, making it difficult to determine many of the characters using normal optical methods. Partly due to tomographic artefacts, some characters were not clearly visualized in previous micro-CT reconstructions. For example, one of the key diagnostic characters for
Nosodendridae
, the 11-segmented antenna with 3-segmented club, could not be observed in
Tihelka
et al.
(2021a)
, although other diagnostic characters could be confirmed.
Here we reexamine the original CT data for the
holotype
of
B. pengweii
. It turns out that the majority of the beetle body has high absorption (white), while the antennae (especially the left one) appear to have lower absorption (black) (
Fig. 16A
). Therefore, the antennae were not properly reconstructed in the simple reconstruction, where only regions with a density higher than a selected threshold were extracted. Confocal microscopy confirms the 3-segmented club of
B. pengweii
(
Fig. 16C
). Since the strong laser could penetrate the somewhat opaque amber matrix better, and out-of-focus light is blocked, the confocal microscope could image this material much better than widefield ones (
Fu
et al.
2021
). The medial antennomeres of
B. pengweii
appears to be relative elongate (
Fig. 16B
), while in extant
Nosodendron
the medial antennomeres are almost as long as wide. Confocal microscopy additionally reveals that the prosternal process (
Fig. 16E
) is not as slender as shown in the CT reconstruction by
Tihelka
et al.
(2021a)
, which was subsequently adopted as one of the characters differentiating
Basinosa
from
Mesonosa
(Tihelka
et al.
2020b)
. Detecting the boundaries of structures under CT is a challenging task (
Coleman & Colbert 2007
); the boundaries between the beetle and the amber matrix are not clearly defined, but are instead represented by a continuum of transitional values. Thus, a different selection of the threshold value for extraction could sometimes greatly affect the visual appearance.
The 3-segmented antennal club, together with the previously shown subantennal groove, wide metaventrite, clearly delimited anterolateral depression of metaventrite for the reception of mesotibial apex and basal mesotarsomeres, and narrowly separated metacoxae (all present in extant
Nosodendridae
and fossil
Nosodendridae
from the Burmese amber; fig. 23C in Ge
et al.
2007), further confirm the placement of
Basinosa
in
Nosodendridae
.
Basinosa
is unique in
Nosodendridae
in having a relatively large body and complete antennal grooves on prosternum.