Jiricateres ukrainicus 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 : 479-481

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

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

( Figs 1–12 )

Type material. Holotype No SIZK L-589, adult, male (sex is confirmed by a pronounced antenna club, characteristic apical abdominal sternite (the 8th ultimate ventrite) with elevated and slightly curved distal margin, and a pygidium wide, elongate and dome-shaped providing movement for curved aedeagus during copulation); Rovno amber. A rectangular yellow, transparent piece of amber with dimensions 11.5 × 5.6 × 4.3 mm. Syninclusions are absent.

Locus typicus. Voronki locality, former Vladimirets district, Rovno Oblast, Ukraine.

Stratum typicum. Rovno amber, late Eocene.

Description. Body black-brown, without metallic lustre, legs brown. Body elongate and oval, evenly expanded posteriorly. Measurements: length 4.2 mm; pronotum length 0.65 mm, pronotum maximum width 1.8 mm; elytra length 3.55 mm, elytra maximum width 1.87 mm, elytra width at base 0.9 mmm.

Head prognathous, flat, small, rounded, not protruding distally and not wider than pronotum at level of eyes; frontoclypeal suture distinct, slightly emarginate Compound eyes round, weakly convex, bare, with fine facetes, contour not elevated. Frons and interocular area slightly convex, lacking impressions. Surface of head evenly strongly punctate; microsculpture distinct; sparsely covered with recumbent, strong, short, dark setae. Antennae 11-segmented, distinctly clavate, attached to head near lateral lower edge of clypeus, short, reaching middle of pronotum; sparsely covered with short, erect, black setae; club 3-segmented, not compact, symmetrical, lacking sensorial fields; antennomere 1 slightly swollen, oval; antennomere 2 oval, shorter and narrower than antennomere 1; antennomeres 3–8 subcylindrical, antennomeres 3–5 slightly elongate, antennomeres 6–8 transverse and equal in length; antennomeres 9–10 wide and transverse, forming club, antennomere 9 about 1.7× as wide as antennomere 8 and slightly narrower than antennomere 10; antennomeres 9 and 10 equal in shape, antennomere 11 subtriangular, slightly flattened and pointed apically, 1,8× as long as antennomere 10. Clypeus narrow, impressed at base, straight. Labrum small, transverse, rounded apically, with basal side distinctly impressed, as long as clypeus length. Maxillary palpi rather elongate, narrow, palpomere 1 subcylindrical, palpomere 2 subtriangular, palpomere 3 elongate, securiform, twice as long as palpomere 2, weakly flattened and truncate at apex. Mandibles bidentate, small, curved, not protruding.

Pronotum weakly convex, narrow and transverse, subparallel laterally and with rounded angles. All sides distinctly marginate, but median parts of anterior and posterior margins weakly edged; lateral sides impressed and widely flattened. Surface sparsely punctures with deep punctures and with distinct microsculpture, row of puncture distinct along lateral impression; sparsely covered with semierect, short setae. Prosternal process narrow slightly recurved at apex.

Scutellar shield clearly visible, transverse, triangular, with rounded angles, with sparse and fine puntation, distal side finely marginate.

Elytra simple, suboval and subparallel, distinctly flattened in basal half, evenly rounded and expanded posteriorly, not wider than pronotum at base, gaping at suture near apices. Humeri small, distinctly protruding towards pronotum. Flattened lateral margin started from the level of humeri and not reaches the elytral apex. Suture entire along whole length of elytra, but thin near scutellar shield. Each elytron with 6–7 narrow and not strongly elevate carinae and with two rows of punctures between two neighboring carinae; punctures distinct, dense and even; microsculpture invisible, not shining; sparsely covered with short, dark and adpressed setae. Interval between 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 striae with incomplete additional striae on apical quarter of elytra. Epipleura distinct from base to elytral apex, sparsely punctate; widely flattened from base towards apical quarter. Metathoracic wings normally developed.

Legs short, simple. Femora thickened towards middle, straight, not flattened. Tibiae straight, shorter than femora, slightly thickened and robust; with several black, short and sharp spinelets on outer surface; with two spicular short spurs in all legs, inner spur longer than outer spur. Tarsi 5-5-5, tarsomeres 1–4 compressed, tarsomere 5 depressed, with bare pedal part and row of short black hairs on distal margin; tarsomere 1 shortest and twice as short as tarsomere 2 in fore and middle legs, tarsomeres 1 and 2 equal in length in hind legs; tarsomeres 2–4 equal length in fore and middle legs, and tarsomeres 1–4 equal in hind legs; tarsomere 5 longest in all legs, about as long as combined length of tarsomeres 1–4 in pro- and mesotarsi and somewhat longer in metatarsi. Claws long and sharp, at base with small, sharp tooth bearing one long, erect seta.

Underside weakly shining, finely and densely punctate and evenly covered with fine, short, semierect setae. Prothorax marginate, with narrow long process between coxae, surface with sparse short thick semierect hairs. Mesepimeres longitudinal. Pygidium (apical tergite) slightly domed, curved ventrally inward. Ultimate ventrite 8 (apical sternite) simple, transverse, not depressed, with distinctly marginate outer side.

Etymology. The species name is toponymic and derived from Ukraine, the country in Eastern Europe, where the amber piece with the holotype of the beetle described here originated.

Figures

FIGURES 1–12. Jiricateres ukrainicus Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky, sp. nov., holotype No L-589 [SIZK]; 1–5—schematic drawings: 1—habitus, ventral view; 2—antenna; 3—foreleg; 4—middle leg; 5—hind leg; 6—microphotographs of habitus, dorsal view; 7—habitus, ventral view; 8—head, frontal view; 9—details of forebody, ventral view; 10—details of forebody, dorsal view; 11—details of thorax, ventral view; 12—habitus, left dorso-lateral view.