Abstract
With over 4,600 species distributed worldwide, the net-winged beetles belong among the most speciose elateroid lineages. Despite this, beetles of the family Lycidae are rare in the fossil record. A new genus and species of Lycidae, Cretolycus praecursor gen. et sp. nov., is herein described based on a single specimen preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretolycus praecursor represents the second known lycid from the Mesozoic. A new tribe, Cretolycini trib. nov., is erected for the species, characterised by 11-segmented filiform antennae, 3-segmented labial palpi with an enlarged apical palpomere, and elytra without costae. A catalogue of fossil net-winged beetles is appended.
References
Bocak, L. & Bocakova, M. (2008) Phylogeny and classification of the family Lycidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Annales Zoologici, 58, 695–720.
https://doi.org/10.3161/000345408X396639
Bocak, L. & Bocakova, M. (2010a) Omalisidae Lacordaire, 1857. In: Leschen, R.A.B., Beutel, R.G. & Lawrence, J.F. (Eds.), Handbook of Zoology. Arthropoda: Insecta. Coleoptera, Beetles. Vol. 2: Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). De Gruyter, Berlin & New York, pp. 110–114.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110911213.110
Bocak, L. & Bocakova, M. (2010b) Lycidae Laporte, 1836. In: Leschen, R.A.B., Beutel, R.G. & Lawrence, J.F. (Eds.), Handbook of Zoology. Arthropoda: Insecta. Coleoptera, Beetles. Vol. 2: Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). De Gruyter, Berlin & New York, pp. 114–123.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110911213.114
Bocak, L., Kundrata, R., Fernández, C.A. & Vogler, A.P. (2016) The discovery of Iberobaeniidae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea): a new family of beetles from Spain, with immatures detected by environmental DNA sequencing. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 283, 20152350.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.2350
Bocak, L., Li, Y. & Ellenberger, S. (2019) The discovery of Burmolycus compactus gen. et sp. nov. from the mid-Cretaceous of Myanmar provides the evidence for early diversification of net-winged beetles (Coleoptera, Lycidae). Cretaceous Research, 99, 149–155.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.02.018
Brlik, M. & Bocak, L. (2008) Revision of the family Omalisidae (Coleoptera, Elateroidea). Insect Systematics & Evolution, 39, 189–212.
https://doi.org/10.1163/187631208788784101
Cai, C.Y., Escalona, H.E., Li, L.Q., Yin, Z.W., Huang, D.Y. & Engel, M.S. (2018) Beetle pollination of cycads in the Mesozoic. Current Biology, 28, 2806–2812.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.036
Cai, C.Y. & Huang, D.Y. (2014). The oldest micropepline beetle from Cretaceous Burmese amber and its phylogenetic implications (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). Naturwissenschaften, 101, 813–817.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1221-z
Cai, C.Y., Lawrence, J.F., Yamamoto, S., Leschen, R.A., Newton, A.F., Ślipiński, A., Yin, Z.W., Huang, D.Y. & Engel, M.S. (2019). Basal polyphagan beetles in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar: biogeographic implications and long-term morphological stasis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286, 20182175.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2175
Cai, C.Y., Leschen, R.A., Hibbett, D.S., Xia, F.Y. & Huang, D.Y. (2017) Mycophagous rove beetles highlight diverse mushrooms in the Cretaceous. Nature Communications, 8, 14894.
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14894
Carpenter, F.M. (1992) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part R. Arthropoda 4. Volume 4: superclass Hexapoda. The Geological Society of America, Inc. & The University of Kansas, Boulder, 655 pp.
Eisner, T., Schroeder, F.C., Snyder, N., Grant, J.B., Aneshansley, D.J., Utterback, D., Meinwald, J. & Eisner, M. (2008) Defensive chemistry of lycid beetles and of mimetic cerambycid beetles that feed on them. Chemoecology, 18, 109–119.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-007-0398-4
Fanti, F. & Pankowski, M.K. (2018) Three new species of soldier beetles from Baltic amber (Coleoptera, Cantharidae). Zootaxa, 4455, 513–524.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4455.3.7
Ferreira, V.S. & Ivie, M.A. (2017) The first fossil species of the extant genus Cessator Kazantsev (Coleoptera: Lycidae): a new Leptolycini from Dominican amber. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 71, 57–61.
https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-71.1.57
Gamboa, S. & Ortuño, V.M. (2018) A new fossil species of the genus Limodromus Motschulsky, 1850 (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Platynini) from Baltic amber with remarks on its death process. Insect Systematics & Evolution, 49, 399–408.
https://doi.org/10.1163/1876312X-00002169
Grimaldi, D.A. & Ross, A.J. (2017) Extraordinary Lagerstätten in amber, with particular reference to the Cretaceous of Burma. In: Fraser, N.C. & Sues, H.-D. (Eds.), Terrestrial Conservation Lagerstätten: Windows into the Evolution of Life on Land. Dunedin Academic Press, Edinburgh, pp. 287–342.
Kazantsev, S.V. (1997) A recent species of the fossil genus Kolibaceum Winkler (Coleoptera, Lycidae) from Eastern China. Entomologica Basiliensia, 20, 159–164.
Kazantsev, S.V. (2012) A new lycid genus from the Dominican Amber (Insecta, Coleoptera, Lycidae, Leptolycinae, Leptolycini). Psyche, 2012, 1–3.
https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/982141
Kazantsev, S.V. (2013) A new fossil genus of net-winged beetles, with a brief review of amber Lycidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Zootaxa, 3608, 94–100.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3608.1.8
Klebs, R. (1910) Über Bernstein einschlusse im allgemeinen und die Coleopteren meiner Bersteinsammlung. [About Baltic amber in general and the Coleoptera in my amber collection]. Schriften der Physikalisch-Ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg, 51, 217–242. [in German]
Kleine, R. (1940) Eine Lycidae aus dem baltischen Bernstein. [A lycid beetle from Baltic amber]. Entomologische Blätter, 36, 179–180. [in German]
Kleine, R. (1941) Nachtrag zu meiner Arbeit: “Eine Lycidae aus dem baltischen Bernstein” [Addendum to my work “A lycid beetle from Baltic amber”]. Entomologische Blätter, 37, 47. [in German]
Kusy, D., Motyka, M., Bocek, M., Vogler, A.P. & Bocak, L. (2018) Genome sequences identify three families of Coleoptera as morphologically derived click beetles (Elateridae). Scientific Reports, 8, 17084.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35328-0
Mao, Y.Y., Liang, K., Su, Y.T., Li, J.G., Rao, X., Zhang, H., Xia, F.Y., Fu, Y.Z., Cai, C.Y. & Huang, D.Y. (2018) Various amberground marine animals on Burmese amber with discussions on its age. Palaeoentomology, 1 (1), 91–103.
https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.1.1.11
Masek, M., Motyka, M., Kusy, D., Bocek, M., Li, Y. & Bocak, L. (2018) Molecular phylogeny, diversity and zoogeography of net-winged beetles (Coleoptera: Lycidae). Insects, 9, 154.
https://doi.org/10.3390/insects9040154
McKenna D.D., Wild, A.L., Kanda, K., Bellamy, C.L., Beutel, R.G., Caterino, M.S., Farnum, C.W., Hawks, D.C., Ivie, M.A., Jameson, M.L., Leschen, R.A.B., Marvaldi, A.E., McHugh, J.V., Newton, A.F., Robertson, J.A., Thayer, M.K., Whiting, M.F., Lawrence, J.F., Ślipiński, A., Maddison, D.R. & Farrell, B.D. (2015) The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end-Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Systematic Entomology, 40, 835–880.
https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12132
Metcalfe, I. (1998) Palaeozoic and Mesozoic geological evolution of the SE Asia region: multidisciplinary constraints and implications for biogeography. In: Hall, R. & Holloway, J.D. (Eds.), Biogeography and Geology of SE Asia. Backhuys, Leiden, pp. 25–41.
Moore, B.P. & Brown, W.V. (1981) Identification of warning odour components, bitter principles and antifeedants in an aposematic beetle: Metriorrhynchus rhipidius (Coleoptera: Lycidae). Insect Biochemistry, 11, 493–499.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1790(81)90016-0
Motyka, M., Kampova, L. & Bocak, L. (2018) Phylogeny and evolution of Müllerian mimicry in aposematic Dilophotes: evidence for advergence and size-constraints in evolution of mimetic sexual dimorphism. Scientific Reports, 8, 3744.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22155-6
Ogg, J. G., Ogg, G. & Gradstein, F.M. (2016) A Concise Geologic Time Scale: 2016. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 234 pp.
Penney, D. & Jepson, J.E. (2014) Fossil Insects: An Introduction to Palaeoentomology. Siri Scientific Press, Manchester, 222 pp.
Poinar, G., Jr. (2018) Burmese amber: evidence of Gondwanan origin and Cretaceous dispersion. Historical Biology, 1–6.
https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2018.1446531
Poinar, G., Jr. & Fanti, F. (2016) New fossil soldier beetles (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) in Burmese, Baltic and Dominican amber. Palaeodiversity, 9, 1–7.
https://doi.org/10.18476/pale.v9.a1
Poinar, G., Jr., Marshall, C.J. & Buckley, R. (2007) One hundred million years of chemical warfare by insects. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 33, 1663–1669.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-007-9343-9
Poinar, G., Jr. & Poinar, R. (1999) The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 292 pp.
Shi, G.H., Grimaldi, D.A., Harlow, G.E., Wang, J., Wang, J., Yang, M.C., Lei, W.Y., Li, Q.L. & Li, X.H. (2012) Age constraint on Burmese amber based on U–Pb dating of zircons. Cretaceous Research, 37, 155–163.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.014
Smith, R.D. & Ross, A.J. (2018) Amberground pholadid bivalve borings and inclusions in Burmese amber: implications for proximity of resin-producing forests to brackish waters, and the age of the amber. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 107, 239–247.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691017000287
Toussaint, E.F.A., Seidel, M., Arriaga-Varela, E., Hájek, J., Král, D., Sekerka, L., Short, A.E.Z. & Fikáček, M. (2017) The peril of dating beetles. Systematic Entomology, 42, 1–10.
https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12198
Wickham, H.F. (1914) New Miocene Coleoptera from Florissant. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 58, 423–494.
https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.28703
Winkler, J.R. (1987a) Berendtimiridae fam. n., a new family of fossil beetles from Baltic Amber (Coleoptera, Cantharoidea). Mitteilungen der Münchner Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 77, 51–59.
Winkler, J.R. (1987b) Three new genera of fossil Lycidae from Baltic Amber. Mitteilungen der Münchner Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 77, 61–78.
Wu, R.J.C. (1997) Secrets of a Lost World: Dominican Amber and its Inclusions. Privately published, Santo Domingo, 127 pp.
Xing, L.D., Sames, B., McKellar, R.C., Xi, D.P., Bai, M. & Wan, X.Q. (2018) A gigantic marine ostracod (Crustacea: Myodocopa) trapped in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Scientific Reports, 8, 1365.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19877-y
Yin, Z.W., Cai, C.Y. & Huang, D.Y. (2018) Last major gap in scydmaenine evolution filled (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). Cretaceous Research, 84, 62–68.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.10.026
Zhang, S.Q., Che, L.H., Li, Y., Liang, D., Pang, H., Ślipiński, A. & Zhang, P. (2018) Evolutionary history of Coleoptera revealed by extensive sampling of genes and species. Nature Communications, 9, 205.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02644-4