Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5496 No. 1: 16 Aug. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-08-16
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5496.1.9
Page range: 133-139
Abstract views: 77
PDF downloaded: 60

First record of Nicobium LeConte (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Anobiinae) from Baltic amber with the description of a new extinct species

Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University; Nevskogo 14; Kaliningrad 236016; Russia
Private Entomological Laboratory & Collection; Rýznerova 37/37; Únětice u Prahy; Prague-west CZ-252 62; Czech Republic
Rockville; Maryland 20853; USA
Institute of Life Sciences and Technologies; Daugavpils University; Vienības 13; Daugavpils LV-5401; Latvia
Coleoptera Cenozoic fossil resin paleobiodiversity Eocene inclusion

Abstract

The first extinct Paleogene species of the Anobiinae genus Nicobium LeConte, 1861 is described based on an inclusion in Baltic amber. Two characteristic features distinguishing the extinct species (among other characters present in one combination or another in extant species) are sparse, inconspicuous elytral pubescence and rectangular, sharp posterior pronotal angles. The new species, Nicobium necrocrator sp. nov., is just the second described extinct representative of the genus. Its discovery adds to our knowledge of the diversity of deathwatch beetles in the amberiferous forests of the Eocene—and establishes an important reference point for future studies of the origin and distribution of these wood-boring beetles living millions of years ago.

 

References

  1. Alekseev, V.I. & Bukejs, A. (2023) The first Paleogene record of Hyperisus Mulsant and Rey (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) with description of a new species and an attempt of biogeographic analysis of ptinid assemblage in Baltic amber. Historical Biology, 1–5. [online 27 Dec 2023] https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2023.2297913
  2. Alekseev, V., Bukejs, A., Háva, J. & Zahradník, P. (2023) A new genus and species of Ernobiinae (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) from Eocene Baltic amber of the Sambian Peninsula. Baltic Journal of Coleopterology, 23 (1), 51–59. https://doi.org/10.59893/bjc.23(1).004
  3. Bercedo, P. & Arnáiz, L. (2007) Dos nuevas especies Íbero-macaronésicas de Nicobium Leconte, 1861 (Coleoptera: Anobiidae: Anobiinae). Boletín Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa, 40, 137−142.
  4. Bukejs, A., Háva, J. & Alekseev, V.I. (2018) New fossil species of Trichodesma LeConte, 1861 (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) from Eocene Baltic amber collected in the Kaliningrad region, Russia. Palaeontologia Electronica, 21.2.17A, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.26879/848
  5. Cymorek, S. (1975) On the species problem in Nicobium castaneum (Col., Anobiidae). Journal of the Institute of Wood Science, 7, 58–59.
  6. Háva, J. & Zahradník, P. (2023) Nicobium cretaceum sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Bostrichoidea: Ptinidae), a new species from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Studies and Reports, Taxonomical Series, 19 (2), 289–292.
  7. Klebs, R. (1910) Über Bernsteineinschlüsse in allgemeinen und die Coleopteren meiner Bernsteinsammlung. Schriften der Physikalisch-ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg, 51, 217–242.
  8. Krishanti, N.P.R.A., Tobimatsu, Y., Miyamoto, T., Fujimoto, I., Kartika, T., Umezawa, T., Hata, T. & Yoshimura, T. (2022) Structural basis of lignocellulose deconstruction by the wood-feeding anobiid beetle Nicobium hirtum. Journal of Wood Science, 68, 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s10086-022-02017-6
  9. Larsson, S.G. (1978) Baltic amber—a palaeobiological study. Entomograph. Vol. 1. Scandinavian Science Press Ltd., Klampenborg, 192 pp. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004631243
  10. Logvinovskij, V.D. (1985) Family Anobiidae. In: Skarlato, O.A (Ed.), Fauna SSSR. Coleoptera, XIV (2). Nauka, Leningrad, pp. 1–175. [in Russian]
  11. Schnepp, K.E. (2023) Catalog of the world species of Trichodesma LeConte, 1861 (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) and associated genera. Insecta Mundi, 1000, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10621762
  12. Spahr, U. (1981) Systematischer Katalog der Bernstein- und Kopal-Käfer (Coleoptera). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Series B, 80, 1–107.
  13. Toskina, I.N. (2014) A new species of wood-borer beetle of the genus Nicobium Leconte, 1861 (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Anobiinae) from Central Asia. Byulleten’ Moskovskogo Obshchestva Ispytateley Prirody Otdel Biologicheskiy, 119 (6), 36–41. [in Russian]
  14. Toskina, I.N. & Provorova, I.N. (2007) Insects in museums. (Biology. Infestation prevention. Control measures). KMK, Moscow, 220 pp.
  15. Viñolas, A. (2020a) Nuevos cambios nomenclaturales en la familia Ptinidae (Coleoptera). Arquivos Entomolóxicos, 22, 263–264.
  16. Viñolas, A. (2020b) Catálogo comentado de los Ptinidae (Coleoptera) de la Península Ibérica, Islas Baleares e Islas Canarias. Monografies de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural. 1, pp. 1–179.
  17. White, R.E. (1982) A catalog of the Coleoptera of America north of Mexico: Family Anobiidae. Agriculture Handbook Number 529-70. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., pp. 1–58.
  18. Zahradník, P. (2019) Nanodesma - gen. nov. from Oriental Region with description of six new species (Coleoptera: Bostrichoidea: Ptinidae). Studies and Reports, Taxonomical Series, 15 (2), 509–522.
  19. Zahradník, P. & Háva, J. (2014) Catalogue of the world genera and subgenera of the superfamilies Derodontoidea and Bostrichoidea (Coleoptera: Derodontiformia, Bostrichiformia). Zootaxa, 3754 (4), 301–352. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3754.4.1