The Earliest Representative of Eorhipidiini (Tenebrionoidea: Ripiphoridae: Ripidiinae) Discovered in Cretaceous Amber

Abstract

A new genus and species of wedge-shaped beetle of Eorhipidiini (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae: Ripidiinae) is described from Cretaceous amber of Myanmar ('Burmese amber'). It represents the only known fossil of this tribe. The species is remarkable for the combination of derived characters shared with the extant genus Pterydrias Reitter, 1895 (i.e., absence of tibial spurs, simplified antennae, and prolonged 4-segmented maxillary palpi) with recurved mandibles similar to those in the ancestral lineages Pelecotominae and Ptilophorinae. To accommodate this peculiar specimen a new genus and species Eodrias mandibularis gen. et sp. nov. are established. A key for all known species of the tribe, for which so far only males are known, is provided. In addition, the systematic position of fossil beetle Asiamordella furvis Hong, 2002 from Early Eocene Fushun amber (China), assigned originally to the family Mordellidae, is evaluated. Its placement within Mordellidae is refuted. Based on the set of characters given in the description it is suggested that the specimen may represent an unknown female morphotype of Ripidiinae and the tribe Eorhipidiini is a possible candidate. Discussion of the systematic position of the newly described genus is supported by a phylogenetic analysis including for the first time morphological characters of extant and fossil genera and larvae of all subfamilies of Ripiphoridae.