Imprint of a Helcophorus Fairmaire, 1881: the first net-winged beetle (Coleoptera Lycidae) from Rovno amber
Author
KAZANTSEV, SERGEY V.
Author
PERKOVSKY, EVGENY E.
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-04-19
5128
1
84
90
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5128.1.4
journal article
55857
10.11646/zootaxa.5128.1.4
d0690c80-bf6f-4ae7-9397-9e504dfad497
1175-5326
6498040
A5F79F57-8C14-47C8-BA3F-5AED0D6B83C7
Helcophorus
(
Thibeteros
)
ekaterinae
Kazantsev et Perkovsky
,
sp. nov.
(
Figs 1
,
2
)
Material.
Holotype
♂
, specimen No.
SIZK
UA-28623
,
Rovno
amber, late Eocene.
Description.
Sex unknown. Most of the body missing, the amber piece only carries an imprint of the anterior half of its upper part, the inclusion of antennae and the anterior leg in milky substance. Upperside light brown (quite probably red in the live specimen;
Figs 1
,
2
).
FIGURE 1
. General view of
Helcophorus
(
Thibeteros
)
ekaterinae
,
sp. nov.
Head about as wide as pronotum. Eyes bulging, relatively large, their diameter ca. 1/2 length of pronotum (
Figs 1
,
2
). Antennomeres 2 and 3 of approximately equal length.
Pronotum transverse, ca. 1.5 times wider than long, semi-trapezoidal, with pronounced acute posterior angles; median areole rhomboidal, broad in the middle, connected with lateral sides with narrow oblique, slightly curved costae. Scutellum (postnotal plate of mesonotal scutellum) transverse, parallel-sided, medially moderately triangularly notched, with broadly rounded distal lobes (
Figs 1
,
2
).
Elytra elongate, flattened, noticeably widened distally; with four primary costae, of which third distinctly stouter; interstices with rectangular transverse, their width ca. 2 times exceeding their length, cells; pubescence sparse and short, almost indistinguishable (
Figs 1
,
2
).
Length (of the roughly anterior half of the individual):
6.5 mm
. Width at humeri: 2.0 mm. Length of antenna ca.
4.4 mm
.
FIGURE 2
. Pronotum and the base of elytra of
Helcophorus
(
Thibeteros
)
ekaterinae
,
sp. nov.
Syninclusions.
SIZK UA-28623: 2 Dolichopodaidae, 2
Formicidae
(1
Yantaromyrmex
sp.
), Aranei, cobweb; SIZK UA-28624: 2
Formicidae
,
Chironomidae
, Cecydomyiidae, Collembola, Entomobryomorpha.
Etymology.
Helcophorus
(
Thibeteros
)
ekaterinae
sp. nov.
is named after our colleague Dr
Ekaterina Sidorchuk (Moscow)
, a prominent paleoentomologist who lost her life in a diving accident in the
Maldives
.
Diagnosis.
The new species may be distinguished from the extant members of the same subgenus,
H.
(
Th.
)
tricolor
Kazantsev, 2000
and
H.
(
Th.
)
sichuanensis
Kazantsev, 2015
, by the noticeably more transverse elytral cells between the primary costae and narrowly notched scutellum with broadly rounded distal lobes (
Figs 1
,
2
), compared to less transverse elytral cells and broadly notched scutellum with narrowed distal lobes in the extant species of the subgenus (
Fig. 4
). It differs from the only other fossil
Helcophorus
species
,
H.
(s. str.)
berendti
, by the distinctly sparser elytral vestiture, relatively larger eyes, and more transverse elytral cells (
Figs 1
,
2
).