Glesirhanis, Shockley, Floyd W. & Alekseev, Vitaly I., 2014

Shockley, Floyd W. & Alekseev, Vitaly I., 2014, Glesirhanis bercioi, a new genus and species from Baltic amber (Coleoptera: Endomychidae: Leiestinae) with a checklist and nomenclatural notes regarding fossil Endomychidae, Zootaxa 3755 (4), pp. 391-400 : 393

Glesirhanis , gen.nov.

Type species: Glesirhanis bercioi , sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Glesirhanis gen. nov. can be diagnosed from all other extant and fossil leiestine endomychids by the following combination of characters: 1) lateral and basal sulci clearly and deeply impressed; 2) antennae with distinct 3-segmented club, without enlarged 9th antennomere; 3) abdomen with 5 freely articulated ventrites; and 4) scutellum strongly transverse, widest basally and narrowing apically.

Glesirhanis can be distinguished from the other fossil leiestine from Baltic amber, Phymaphoroides antennatus Motschulsky, 1856 , based on the size and shape of stalk antennomeres and structure of the tarsi, e.g., 1st and 2nd tarsomeres in Phymaphoroides are distinctly lobed and only weakly lobed in Glesirhanis . The original description by Motschulsky (1856) is verbatim as follows: “ Phymaphoroides antennatus Motsch. , un Endomychide de la forme des Phymaphorus, mais avec le 9ième article des antennes brusquement élargi. Long. 1 lign.” [Translation: An endomychid beetle in form of Phymaphorus, but with the sharply dilated ninth segment of antenna. Length 2.25 mm]. While Phymaphoroides has a greatly inflated 9th antennomere, Glesirhanis does not. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that this difference is sexually dimorphic (i.e., Motschulsky described a male while we describe a female herein) since dimorphism in antennal structure is known within Leiestinae . Glesirhanis can be distinguished from Palaeoestes Kirejtshuk & Nel by the distinctly impressed lateral and basal sulci, which are at most only weakly impressed in Palaeoestes .

Glesirhanis can be distinguished from all extant genera other than Leiestes Chevrolat based on having the 3rd tarsomere not significantly reduced relative to the 2nd. Similarly, Glesirhanis can further be separated by virtue of antennomeres 9 and 10 appearing equal in size and shape rather than differing in size and shape, a feature previously reported as an autapomorphy of Panaleis. Finally, Glesirhanis has an abdomen with 5 freely articulated ventrites while Panaleis (as well as Panamomus and Rhanidea ) have 6.

Etymology. This new genus-group name is a combination of the Old Prussian word “glêsîs” or “glīsis” (amber) and Rhanis, one of the travelling companions of the goddess Diana. The gender is feminine.