Jiricateres storozhenkoi Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky, 2025

Tshernyshev, Sergei E., Alekseev, Vitalii, Bukejs, Andris, Vasilenko, Dmitry V., Legalov, Andrej A. & Perkovsky, Evgeny E., 2025, Jiricateres-new extinct genus of Lophocateridae (Coleoptera: Cleroidea) from late Eocene European amber, Zootaxa 5715 (1), pp. 476-488 : 483-484

Jiricateres storozhenkoi Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky , sp. nov.

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( Figs 20–26 )

Type material. Holotype No KAM 5124/144 [ KRAM], adult, sex unknown; Baltic amber. Complete beetle included in elongate, orange, transparent amber piece with approximate dimensions 26 × 6 × 5 mm and preserved without supplementary fixation, with the beetle situated in central part of the piece. Syninclusions are represented by numerous stellate Fagaceae trichomes, several small plant fragments, and two adult specimens of Ceratopogonidae ( Diptera : Nematocera).

Paratype ABAC-069 [ ACAB] (ex coll. Jonas Damzen, JDC-4601), adult, sex unknown; Baltic amber. Complete beetle included in suboval, yellow, transparent amber piece with dimensions 26 × 13 × 5 mm and preserved without supplementary fixation. Syninclusions are represented by seven small acari mites specimens ( Arachnida: Acari), and numerous stellate Fagaceae trichomes .

Locus typicus. Southeastern Baltic Sea coast, the Sambian peninsula, Kaliningrad Oblast .

Stratum typicum. Baltic amber, late Eocene.

Description of holotype. Body integument and appendages unicolorous dark (as preserved). Body elongate and subparallel, depressed, weakly convex, lateral margins of elytra and pronotum explanate. Pubescence not discernible. Measurements: body length (combined length of elytra, pronotum, and head along midline, measured dorsally) 4.0 mm, body maximum width across elytra 1.85 mm; pronotum length 0.75 mm, pronotum maximum width 1.41 mm; elytra width at base (combined) 1.5 mm, elytra length 3.0 mm.

Head prognathous, flattened, transverse; evenly and densely covered by round punctures; with distinct arcuate frontoclypeal suture. Compound eyes round, prominent, convex, bare, with distinct facets approximately as wide as 0.5× as head puncture diameter. Antennae 11-segmented, with loose 3-segmenetd club, rather short and reaching middle of pronotum, attached to head near lateral lower edge of clypeus just below eyes. Antennal club symmetrical, lacking sensorial fields.Antennomere 1 swollen, rounded, large; antennomere 2 distinctly narrower, slightly shorter, oval; antennomere 3 cylindrical, approximately 2.0× as long as wide; antennomeres 4–6 subquadrate, equal in shape and size; antennomere 7 rounded, slightly shorter than antennomere 6; antennomere 7 transverse, smallest, hemisphaerical; antennomeres 9–10 strongly transverse, widest; antennomere 11 oval-triangular, rounded apically, weakly transverse; antennomeres 10–11 finely and shortly pubescent. Clypeus transverse, with almost straight anterior margin. Maxillary palps elongate; penultimate palpomere cylindrical, slightly longer than wide; apical palpomere weakly clavate, approximately 2.5× as long as wide.

Pronotum transverse, approximately 0.54× as long as wide, narrowed anteriad and widest at base; lateral sides rounded; anterior margin almost straight. Pronotal disc weakly convex; lateral pronotal sides flattened, nondepressed; lateral margins distinctly raised, smooth (not crenulate). Pronotal angles widely rounded. Pronotal surface covered by dense rounded punctures, weakly larger than pronotal punctures and separated by distance 0.25–1.0× puncture diameter. Procoxal cavities distinctly open posteriorly, strongly transverse, separated by prosternal process. Prosternal process rhomboid, widened behind procoxae and then narrowed apically, with margined lateral sides, rounded at apex. Mesocoxal cavities externally open, very narrowly separated by projection of metaventrite and extremely narrow mesoventral process. Mesoventrite transverse. Metaventrite almost flat, transverse; discrimen not discernible. Metepisternum narrowly triangular. Metacoxal cavities narrowly separated by needle-shaped intercoxal process of abdominal ventrite 1.

Scutellar shield transversely oval.

Elytra subparallel, widest at about posterior one-fifth, rounded apically; weakly convex, with flattened lateral sides along entire length; regularly punctate. Flattened lateral elytral margins distinctly raised, elytral apices entirely flattened. Bases of elytra (at humeri) approximately as wide as maximal pronotal width. Lateral elytral margins distinctly raised; elytral apices flattened. Each elytron with seven narrow and weak carinae, separated by two rows of round regular punctures with weakly convex interstria between each row. Elytral striae lacking incomplete additional striae on apical quarter. Elytral epipleura concave, widest at humeri, distinct along entire elytron, gradually narrowed posteriad, sparsely punctate. Metathoracic wings well developed (apical part of left wing visible beneath elytron).

Legs short, simple, rather robust. Pro- and metacoxae transverse, mesocoxae rounded. Metacoxa reaching epipleuron. Trochantins discernible in outer anterior angles of pro- and mesocoxal cavities. Trochanters triangular. Femora medially widened, with narrow groove in inner margin for reception of tibia. Tibiae widened apically, approximately as long as femora, finely pubescent, with two apical spurs. One large protibial apical spur distinctly hooked. Tarsi 5-5-5; tarsomeres 1–4 with long ventral pubescence; tarsomere 5 as long as or slightly longer than tarsomeres 2–4 combined; tarsal lobes absent. Claws long, approximately 0.5× as long as tarsomere 5, without denticles; empodium large, projecting, setose.

Abdomen with five abdominal ventrites of approximately equal length; ventrites 3–5 with distinctly pubescent lateral sides; abdominal ventrite 5 with widely rounded apical margin.

Paratype. Measurements: body length (from anterior margin of head to apex of elytra) 3.4 mm, body maximum width across elytra 1.5 mm; pronotum length 0.5 mm, pronotum maximum width 1.15 mm; elytra width at base (combined) 1.3 mm, elytra length 2.6 mm.

Otherwise, the specimen ABAC-069 is similar in all visible morphological characters to the holotype KAM 5124/144 [ KRAM] .

Remark. In holotype, apex of abdomen with additional small visible sternite, densely ringed by irregularly curved pubescence and probably internal in position of repose.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym; the new species name honors the outstanding Russian entomologist Prof. Sergey Yu. Storozhenko (Vladivostok, Russia).

Figures

FIGURES 20–26. Jiricateres storozhenkoi Tshernyshev,Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky, sp. nov., holotype No KAM 5124/144 [KRAM] (20, 21, 23–26) and paratype No ABAC-069 [ACAB] (22); 20—microphotographs of habitus, dorsal view; 21—habitus, ventral view; 22—habitus, dorsal view; 23—schematic drawing of antenna; 24—head, ventral view; 25—details of forebody, dorsal view; 26—thorax, ventral view. Scale bars = 1.0 mm (20–22); 0.5 mm (24–26).