Arturmiles, Fanti, 2021

Fanti, Fabrizio, 2021, A new genus of Cantharidae from Eocene Baltic amber found in Poland, with phoretic mites, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 21 (2), pp. 105-110 : 106

Genus Arturmiles gen. nov.

Type species: Arturmiles pankowskiarum Fanti sp. nov., by present designation. The genus is at present monotypic.

Etymology. Named in honor of the great amber collector and dear friend of the author Artur Robert Michalski, + the Latin noun miles = soldier (a classic ending to indicate the representatives of the family Cantharidae : Fanti et al. 2018; Fanti & Damgaard 2019, 2020). The gender is masculine.

Diagnosis. The third tarsomere is straight apically and not bilobed at the sides, head rounded behind the eyes, the last maxillary palpomere very elongated and slightly enlarged on the outside, and the claws simple with a small obtuse tooth at the base, all of which demonstrate that the specimen belongs to a new genus. It is very similar to the fossil genus Juratelacrima Fanti & Damgaard, 2018 . However, the latter genus has its head slightly elongated behind its eyes, similar to the tribe Podabrini Gistel, 1856 , its pronotum is gibbous, and it also has a different last maxillary and labial palpomere (Fanti & Damgaard 2018). No extant genus of the tribe Cantharini has the combination of characters of the new genus, such as the third tarsomere straight at apex, claws simple with a small tooth, and a subsquare pronotum (like Podistra ). For example, Rhagonycha Eschscholtz, 1830 , has the third tarsomere straight and claws bifid, while Podistra Motschulsky, 1839 has claws simple with third tarsomere bilobed.

Distribution. Currently known only from Eocene Baltic amber found in Poland.