A long-living species of the hydrophiloid beetles: Helophorus sibiricus from the early Miocene deposits of Kartashevo (Siberia, Russia)

Abstract

The recent hydrophiloid species Helophorus (Gephelophorus) sibiricus (Motschulsky, 1860) is recorded from the early Miocene deposits of Kartashevo assigned to the Ombinsk Formation. A detailed comparison with recent specimens allowed a confident identification of the fossil specimen, which is therefore the oldest record of a recent species for the Hydrophiloidea. The paleodistribution as well as recent distribution of the species is summarized, and the relevance of the fossil is discussed. In addition, the complex geological settings of the Kartashevo area are briefly summarized.

Phylogeny and the fossil record of the Helophoridae reveal Jurassic origin of extant hydrophiloid lineages (Coleoptera: Polyphaga)

“…Within this study we document that the antiquity and long‐term morphological stasis of the hydrophiloid family Helophoridae may be reliably dated to the late Jurassic, and its extant lineages probably originated during the Early Cretaceous. This substantially improves our knowledge on the evolution of the Helophoridae as the family was previously only documented in the fossil record back to the early Miocene (Fikáček et al , 2011b). At the same time, this study provides the first sound data allowing us to understand the early evolution of the Hydrophiloidea in the Mesozoic.…”

“…The diversification of the extant lineages of Helophorus may have occurred slightly later, but had to take place at least during the Early Cretaceous based on the fossil of Helophorus palaeosibiricus from the Baissa outcrops ( c. 135 Ma) which clearly belongs to one of the four main clades of extant Helophorus (the clade of small sculptured subgenera). Subsequent evolution of Helophorus is unfortunately not documented by the known fossil record until the Miocene, when extinct as well as extant species of extant subgenera are documented (Matthews, 1976; Kiselev & Nazarov, 2009; Fikáček et al , 2011b). The morphological heterogeneity, small number of species and limited distribution of the ‘sculptured’ extant Helophorus subgenera may indicate that these groups are remnants of the Mesozoic radiation of Helophorus of which only some relict lineages have survived until the present.…”

“…All European Pleistocene species were found to represent extant living species by Angus (1970, 1973) (see also Abellán et al , 2010), and the re‐examination of the species described by Heer (1862) showed that they do not belong to the Hydrophiloidea at all (M. Fikáček and H. Schmied, in preparation). Recently, the extant species Helophorus sibiricus Motschulsky was recorded from the early Miocene deposits in Siberia, Russia, which is the oldest record of the extant hydrophiloid species known to date (Fikáček et al , 2011b). The situation is similar for the remaining families of the helophorid lineage: no fossils of the Epimetopidae are known, and a single Pliocene fossil of Georissus is known (Piton, 1939) after the transfer of remaining fossil Georissus to the genus Georissites Ponomarenko with unclear taxonomic status (Haupt, 1956; Hörnschemeyer et al , 1995; Ponomarenko, 2008).…”

Fauna of the East European Tundra: the Input of “Siberian” Species

“…Целый ряд видов, распространение которых в Старом Свете сейчас ограничено территорией Сибири, в периоды похолоданий позднего плейстоцена были широко распространены по всей палеарктике, в том числе в западной европе. таковы многие виды жуков, хорошо сохраняющихся в отложениях (Coope, 1979;Назаров, 1984;Fikáček et al, 2011;Legalov et al, 2015), и млекопитающих -пред-et al, 2015), и млекопитающих -пред-et al, 2015), и млекопитающих -пред-al., 2015), и млекопитающих -пред-al., 2015), и млекопитающих -пред-., 2015), и млекопитающих -представителей лемминговой и мамонтовой фаун (Маркова, ван кольфсхотен, 2008; и др.). Нельзя исключить, что остаточными являются и некоторые европейские популяции самого холодоустойчивого дождевого червя Eisenia n. nor-nordenskioldi (Eisen, 1879), основной ареал кото-Eisen, 1879), основной ареал кото-, 1879), основной ареал которого находится в Сибири, а находки на большей части Восточной европы связаны с поймами рек, причем только на территории, которая была свободной от ледника (Макарова, колесникова, 2019).…”

Hidden surface microstructures on Carboniferous insect Brodioptera sinensis (Megasecoptera) enlighten functional morphology and sensorial perception

“…The poor state of the majority of imprint fossils damaged by postmortal deformations makes their study particularly difficulty and often end in failure. These techniques have been more widely used in studies of fossils from younger strata, such as Mesozoic and Cenozoic amber inclusions and exceptionally preserved compressed fossils11121314. The broader application to the study of scarce insect fossils was accelerated recently with use of ESEM, which makes it possible to study uncoated specimens using this non-invasive technique15.…”