Fossil water‐penny beetles (Coleoptera: Psephenidae: Eubrianacinae) from the Eocene of Europe, with remarks on their phylogenetic position and biogeography

Abstract

A species of water-penny beetles is recorded from larval instars from the Middle Eocene Messel pit fossil site in Germany. This species clearly belongs to the psephenid subfamily Eubrianacinae, but its precise systematic affinities remain unclear. It is the second fossil species of this taxon recorded from Europe. The holotype of the first fossil species, Eubrianax vandeli Bertrand and Laurentiaux, 1963, is lost. The high number of fossil specimens from Messel allowed discussion of stratigraphic and spatial occurrence of the eubrianacine species in the Messel pit, but its larval ontogeny could not be unravelled. Because of the high number of fossils and their wide occurrence, it is inferred that the species from Messel gen. sp. 1 was an autochthonous faunal element of the Eocene Lake Messel, which might indicate that some parts of the former Lake Messel had a shore area with stones. The analysis of the phylogenetic position of both Eocene eubrianacine species showed that their phylogenetic placement cannot be resolved because preservational influences limit the evaluation of characters. The historical biogeography of Psephenidae and Eubrianacinae is analysed and discussed. The fossil record shows that psephenid beetles have fossil members occurring outside their current distribution range, so interpretations of their biogeography based only on extant members can be misleading.

Catalogue and composition of fossil Anthicidae and Ischaliidae (Insecta: Coleoptera)

“…Eskov (2002) already pointed out, that in certain cases, the extant distribution seems to be the relict of a formerly broader distribution, especially concerning arthropods and insects, in particular. The formerly wider distribution ranges of these taxa correlate well with worldwide warmer and uniform climate of Eocene (Frakes et al, 1992;Wedmann et al, 2011). Consequently, we want to emphasize that any interpretations of Coleoptera biogeography based only on extant taxa can be misleading, and therefore we strongly support similar conclusions provided earlier by Wedmann et al (2011).…”

“…The formerly wider distribution ranges of these taxa correlate well with worldwide warmer and uniform climate of Eocene (Frakes et al, 1992;Wedmann et al, 2011). Consequently, we want to emphasize that any interpretations of Coleoptera biogeography based only on extant taxa can be misleading, and therefore we strongly support similar conclusions provided earlier by Wedmann et al (2011). The known historical biogeography of the Anthicidae and Ischaliidae is summarized in Table 3.…”

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

“…Two different methods are currently used to combine data on fossil and extant taxa in phylogenetic studies of Coleoptera: fossil and extant taxa are either included in the original data matrix on which the analysis is based (e.g. Beutel et al , 2008; Fikáček et al , 2010; Kolibáč et al , 2010; Wedmann et al , 2011; this study) or the analysis is based solely on extant taxa and fossils are used only to provide the minimum ages for selected clades (e.g. Kavanaugh, 1986; Hunt et al , 2007; McKenna et al , 2009; Kuschel & Leschen, 2010).…”

Preservation of three-dimensional anatomy in phosphatized fossil arthropods enriches evolutionary inference

“…Several types of preservation or certain combinations of them are known for arthropod fossils. These are adpressions (compressions or impressions) ( Wedmann et al, 2007 ; 2011 ), casts, voids, embeddings, mineral replications, charcoalified remains, or inclusions in amber ( Grimaldi et al, 1994 ; Martínez-Delclòs et al, 2004 ; Grimaldi and Engel, 2005 ; Dunlop and Garwood 2014 ; Penney and Jepson, 2014 ). Amber inclusions are famous for exquisitely preserving three-dimensional external shape and sometimes internal characters ( Perreau and Tafforeau, 2011 ).…”