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Issue: Vol. 6 No. 3: June 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-06-29
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.3.13
Page range: 300–312
Abstract views: 261
PDF downloaded: 246

Six new species of fossil soldier beetles (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from Eocene Baltic amber

16405 Fox Valley Terrace, Rockville, Maryland 20853, USA
Via del Tamburino 69, I-53040 Piazze (SI), Italy
New species palaeoentomology Eocene resin Coleoptera Cantharidae

Abstract

We describe and illustrate six new species of the family Cantharidae from Baltic amber: Sucinorhagonycha maryae sp. nov. (Cantharinae, Cacomorphocerini), Podistra madelineae sp. nov. (Cantharinae, Cantharini), Malthinus (Malthinus) karenpankowskiae sp. nov. (Malthininae, Malthinini), Malthinus (Malthinus) pauljohnsoni sp. nov. (Malthininae, Malthinini), Malthodes (Libertimalthodes) betseyae sp. nov. (Malthininae, Malthodini) and Malthodes (Malthodes) greenwalti sp. nov. (Malthininae, Malthodini). These new taxa add to the astonishing palaeodiversity documented in Baltic amber, demonstrating the wide range of organisms thriving in European forests and wooded areas during the Eocene. Extant species of Malthodes, Malthinus and Podistra also provide important clues to how these extinct taxa lived, fed and reproduced some 35–40 million years ago.

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