Retromalisus damzeni Kazantsev, 2020

Kazantsev, Sergey, 2020, Retromalisus damzeni, gen. et sp. nov., a second Baltic amber taxon of the extinct family Berendtimiridae (Insecta: Coleoptera), Journal of Natural History 54 (17 - 18), pp. 1073-1080 : 1076-1079

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222933.2020.1781949

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E259B81C-A66A-FFDD-6A28-B4F7A38349A2

treatment provided by

Carolina

scientific name

Retromalisus damzeni Kazantsev
status

sp. nov.

Retromalisus damzeni Kazantsev , sp. nov. ( Figures 1–5 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 View Figures 5–6 )

Material examined. Holotype, male (?): specimen No. L-082019, Baltic amber, Middle to Late Eocene, Gdansk Gulf Baltic amber (Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) ( ICM, ex. coll. Jonas Damzen, Vilnius, JD 5706).

Syninclusions. None.

Description. Adult male (?). Light to dark brown. Vertex even, finely and rather densely punctate. Head ca. 1.3 times more narrow than pronotum. Eyes small, interocular distance ca. 2 times greater than eye diameter. Ultimate maxillary palpomeres about as long as preceding palpomeres, ca. 2.6 times longer than wide. Antennae attaining to elytral twothirds; antennomere 3 subequal in length to antennomere 2 and ca. 1.1 times shorter than antennomere 4; antennomere 11 ca. 1.3 times longer than antennomere 10; length ratio of antennomeres 42:34:36:39:36:36:36:34:34:32:43 ( Figures 1–4 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 ).

Pronotum transverse, ca. 1.6 times wider than long, slightly convex basally and anteriorly, with slightly concave sides, shallowly incised before posterior angles, small acute posterior and noticeable blunt anterior angles; surface finely and sparsely punctate. Scutellum transverse, rounded at apex ( Figures 1 View Figure 1 , 5 View Figures 5–6 ).

Elytra long, ca. 2.6 times longer than wide at humeri, almost parallel-sided, narrowest in the middle, with 10 regular longitudinal rows of round punctures (rows 6 and 7 disappearing in distal fifth); distance between punctures subequal to their diameter; pubescence short, relatively dense and erect. Length ratio of tarsomeres in hind tarsus: 9:5:2:5:5 ( Figures 1–3 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 ).

Ventrites sparsely and finely punctured; penultimate ventrite ca. 4 times wider than long ( Figure 2 View Figure 2 ).

Measurements. Body length: 3.2 mm. Width (at elytral humeri): 1.0 mm.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The new species is named after Mr Jonas Damzen (Vilnius, Lithuania) who donated the inclusion to the collection of the Insect Centre, Moscow.

Differential diagnosis. Retromalisus damzeni sp. nov., the only known representative of the genus, is easily distinguishable from Berendtimirus progenitor , the only other taxon of Berendtimiridae , by the generic characters, i.e. by the smaller eyes, shorter scapus

(antennomere 1), narrower mandibles, shorter antennae and 10 longitudinal rows of elytral punctures, instead of nine in Berendtimirus ( Figures 1–4 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 ).

Remark. The beetle is included in a polished flat piece of transparent yellow amber. Measurements of the piece are c. 35x22x 6 mm.

ICM

Instituto de Ciencias del Mar

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