Malthodes (Malthodes) tognettii, Parisi & Fanti, 2019

Parisi, Francesco & Fanti, Fabrizio, 2019, A new fossil Malthodes Kiesenwetter, 1852 from the Eocene Baltic amber (Coleoptera Cantharidae), Zootaxa 4652 (1), pp. 189-195 : 190

Malthodes (Malthodes) tognettii sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–3 )

Description. Adult, winged, slender, male defined on the basis of the last urites strongly modified. Body length: 2.1 mm, antennae: about 2.0 mm. Entirely dark brown without yellow spots on elytra. Head exposed, slightly elongate, rounded behind the eyes, with shallow punctation and small hairs. Eyes very large, rounded, prominent, inserted in the lateral-upper part of the head. Maxillary palpi 4-segmented, first palpomere short, second palpomere triangular, third robust and elongate, last palpomere globular and distally pointed. Labial palpi 3-segmented, last palpomere globular and distally pointed. Antennae filiform, 11-segmented, elongate, surpassing apex of elytra and as long as abdomen; antennomere I elongate, club-shaped; antennomere II about 1.7 times shorter than antennomere I; antennomere III longer than antennomere II; antennomeres IV-VIII subequal in length, slightly longer than antennomere III; antennomere IX shorter than previous; antennomere X as long as antennomere III; antennomere XI elongate, rounded at apex; all antennomeres covered by long setae. Pronotum strongly transverse, narrower than the head, surface scarcely punctate and with short setae, sides almost straight, posterior margin slightly bordered. Elytra slightly narrower than pronotum, covered with several short and erected setae, parallel-sided, reaching the base of the eighth abdominal segment, rounded at the apexes. Hind wings infuscate, surpassing elytra and almost reaching last abdominal segment. Legs rather robust, pubescent; coxae elongate, trochanters with rounded apex; femora enlarged; tibiae longer than the femora, thin, cylindrical, with a spur at the apex. Tarsi 5-segmented, pubescent; tarsomeres I thin, elongate; tarsomeres II shorter and stouter than tarsomere I; tarsomeres III shorter than second; tarsomeres IV bilobed; tarsomeres V elongate and slender; claws simple. Metasternum elongate. Sternites are transverse and slightly pubescent. Last tergite (tg10) elongate, almost flat and slightly cylindrical, slightly bent downwards from half length, apically weakly forked; last sternite (st9) elongate, strongly curved, folded backwards and weakly forked apically, the initial part of the last sternite is cylindrical while the backward bending is flat with the sides bent upwards in a kind of small wings or lobes and concave inside. Aedeagus not visible. Female unknown.

Etymology. Named in honor of Roberto Tognetti (University of Molise, Italy), the mentor of the first author.

Holotype. Male, in Baltic amber, deposited at the University of Molise (Unimol) with accession No. Unimol AAA002FP.

Type locality. Yantarny mine, Sambian Peninsula, Kaliningrad region, Russia.

Type horizon. Upper Eocene (Priabonian), Prussian Formation: 37.8–33.9 Mya.

Syninclusions. Air bubbles, wood remains and stellate hairs.

Differential diagnosis. No living species of Malthodes from the Baltic area and Central Europe or the Alps is phylogenetically related to the new species. Malthodes hexacanthus Kiesenwetter, 1852 has similarities only with regard to the last sternite (st9) which however in the latter species does not have lateral extensions near the apex and it is deeply forked ( Kiesenwetter 1852; Liberti 2011) and not weakly as in M. tognettii sp. nov. No fossil is similar to the new species, except for Malthodes serafini Kuśka & Kupryjanowicz, 2005 which has the last tergite (tg10) very similar though less bent and (as for M. hexacanthus ) does not have lateral expansions on the last sternite which is also strongly bifurcated at the apex ( Kuśka & Kupryjanowicz 2005; Fanti 2017a; Fanti & Vitali 2017).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Malthodes (Malthodes) tognettii sp. nov. in Baltic amber, holotype. A: dorsolateral view, scale bar = 0.5 mm. B: reconstruction, scale bar = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 2. Malthodes (Malthodes) tognettii sp. nov. in Baltic amber, holotype. A: detail of antennae, scale bar = 0.5 mm. B: detail of the head, pronotum and elytra (lateral view), scale bar = 0.3 mm.

FIGURE 3. Malthodes (Malthodes) tognettii sp. nov. in Baltic amber, holotype. A: detail of the last abdominal segments, scale bar = 0.1 mm. B: line drawing of the last abdominal segments, scale bar = 0.1 mm.