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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 3: June 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-06-27
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.3.5
Page range: 290-298
Abstract views: 64
PDF downloaded: 56

A new wireworm-like larva (Coleoptera, Elateridae incertae sedis) from about 100 million year-old Kachin amber with a very stout antenna

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), Faculty of Biology, Großhaderner Str. 2, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany; GeoBio-Center at LMU, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333 München, Germany
Kreuzbergstr. 90, 66482 Zweibrücken, Germany
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), Faculty of Biology, Großhaderner Str. 2, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany; GeoBio-Center at LMU, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333 München, Germany
Elateridae Elaterinae Elaterini fossil larva Cretaceous Coleoptera Elateridae incertae sedis

Abstract

Beetle larvae are ubiquitous in the modern-day fauna, and we can expect that this was not very different in many past ecosystems. Yet, the literature on fossil beetle larvae is still comparably scarce. Here we report a larva with a wireworm-like morphology from about 100 million years old Kachin amber, Myanmar. The larva represents the third type of larvae that shares characters with modern larvae of Elateridae, the group of click beetles. However, it also possesses an unusual feature, a bulbous trunk end. Such a structure is well known in modern larvae of some ingroups of Elateridae such as Cebrioninae, Elaterini, and Agriotini, and to a certain degree also Dicrepidiini, Physorhinini, and Ampedini. The new fossil is different in the morphology of the antennae and palps, which are short, rather stout, and cone-shaped, being broader than those of any of the modern counterparts.

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