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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 5: October 2025
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2025-10-31
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.5.4
Page range: 483-486
Abstract views: 47
PDF downloaded: 3

First clown beetle (Coleoptera: Histeridae) from Middle Miocene Mexican amber

Charles University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology, Viničná 7, 12800 Prague 2, Czech Republic; Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové, Eliščino nábřeží 465, 500 03 Hradec Králové 3, Czech Republic
The Hokkaido University Museum, Hokkaido University, North 10, West 8, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
Charles University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology, Viničná 7, 12800 Prague 2, Czech Republic
Plant Pest Diagnostics Center, California Department of Food & Agriculture, 3294 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA 95832-1448, U.S.A
Coleoptera Histeridae

Abstract

The polyphagan family of clown beetles (Coleoptera: Histeridae) is represented by over 4,800 species with worldwide distribution. It is well-known for the diversity of exploited habitats and remarkable morphological adaptations, which evolved in relation to habitat shifts (Kovarik & Caterino, 2016). The origin of the family has been estimated to the mid-Jurassic based on phylogenomic analyses (Kusý et al., 2025). The earliest known fossils appeared in the Cretaceous Period, with the oldest fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Hkamti amber (ca. 110 Ma) of northern Myanmar (Caterino & Yamamoto, 2023; Simon-Pražák et al., 2024). There are currently over 50 described fossil species of clown beetles with most of them found in Cretaceous and Eocene ambers. Only a single species has been formally described from the Miocene age ambers (i.e., Trypanaeus hispaniolus Chatzimanolis et al., 2006; from Middle Miocene Dominican amber of the Dominican Republic).

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