Arturmiles pankowskiarum, 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 : 106-108

Arturmiles pankowskiarum sp. nov.

( Figs. 1 - 2 )

Holotype. Female , in Baltic amber, deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology ( MCZ) at Harvard University, accession No. MCZ:Ent:PALE-43635.

Type locality. Poland, Baltic Sea coast, Gdańsk, Wisła River estuary area (Mikoszewo, Jantar, Stegna, Sztutowo, Katy Rybackie villages).

Type strata. Middle Eocene. Prussian Formation.

Differential diagnosis. Being a monotypic genus there are no species similar to Arturmiles pankowskiarum gen. et sp. nov. The most similar Eocene fossils are of the genera Podistra and Lycocerus (Fanti & Damgaard 2018, 2019, 2020; Kazantsev 2018, 2020; Fanti 2020, 2021). In particular, Podistra (Absidia) jirii Fanti, 2020 also differs in the maxillary and labial palps, and Podistra (Absidia) mattheseni Fanti & Damgaard, 2020 differs in the pronotum, maxillary palps and length of the antennomeres (Fanti 2020; Fanti & Damgaard 2020).

Description. Adult, winged, slender. Female, defined on the basis of the short antennae and robust abdomen. Body length 5.6 mm; elytra 3.3 mm. Dark brown with blackish pronotum.

Head almost completely exposed, as wide as pronotum, very elongated, surface strongly wrinkled and with punctation and setae, frons flat. Eyes exceptionally wide, inserted in the upper part of the head, rounded-elongated, strongly convex, covering almost the entire lateral part starting almost from the center of the head and leaving only a small portion of the head uncovered behind the eyes themselves. Mandibles very robust, slightly falciform, slightly enlarged at base, and apparently without teeth. Maxillary palps unequal, 4-segmented, palpomere I very elongated; palpomere II slightly shorter than first; palpomere III shorter than second and over three times shorter than the first palpomere; last palpomere very elongated, filiform, slightly enlarged on the outside. Labial palps 3-segmented, with the last palpomere securiform. Antennae 11- segmented, filiform, rather short, not reaching to the midway point of the elytra, inserted in the frons and far from the eyes; scape elongated, robust, curved, club-shaped; pedicel short, about 2.8 times shorter than the scape; antennomere III filiform, elongated and about 1.4 times longer than pedicel; antennomeres IV-IX filiform, subequal, elongated; antennomere X filiform, slightly longer than previous ones; antennomere XI thin, rounded at apex, as long as X; antennomeres pubescent. Pronotum subsquare, lateral margins parallel, surface equipped with a few long setae and rather flat with a thin transverse depression at the posterior margin, anterior margin almost straight (only slightly protruding in the middle) and strongly bordered, posterior margin bordered and slightly roundish, corners rounded. Scutellum triangu-

Fanti F.

lar-shaped. Elytra elongated, wider than pronotum, covering the last abdominal segments except the last one, parallel-sided; apex rounded; surface with scattered long setae and smooth with only few shallow punctation. Posterior wings almost completely covered by elytra. Sternum and abdominal segments with long pubescence; last tergite small, narrower than penultimate tergite, like a roundish lobe; last sternite deformed and probably similar to the last tergite. Legs elongated, covered with setae; coxae massive, elongated; trochanters small; femora cylindrical, slightly enlarged, straight; tibiae thin, cylindrical, enlarged and flat at apex, equipped with a spur at apex, pro- and mesotibiae shorter than pro- and mesofemora, metatibiae longer than metafemora. Tarsi 5-segmented; first metatarsomere elongated, about 1.6 times longer than the second metatarsomere; second tarsomere straight at margin; third tarsomere shorter than the second, straight at margin and not bilobed at sides; fourth short, bilobed; fifth elongated, thinner than others, curved; claws simple with a very small and obtuse lobe at base.

Male unknown.

Etymology. Named in honor of the mother and daughters of the Pankowski family: Mary and Madeline and their mother Karen + the Latin -

arum. The Pankowskis are a great American family who have kindly assisted me in several of my research projects.

Syninclusions. A few botanical remains and big air bubbles, five Acarina.

Remarks. The piece is extremely transparent and allows a perfect view of the inclusion. It measures approximately 24x 13-14 mm. The inclusion is almost complete with the right mesothoracic leg preserved up to part of the third tarsomere, and the right antenna preserved up to the fifth antennomere plus three others that have been crushed.

Figures

Fig. 1. Arturmiles pankowskiarum gen. et sp. nov. in Baltic amber.A: Holotype, ventro-lateral view, bar = 1.0 mm; B: Holotype, dorso-lateral view, bar = 1.0 mm; C: Holotype, detail of last abdominal tergites, bar = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 2. Arturmiles pankowskiarum gen. et sp. nov. in Baltic amber. A: Holotype, detail of head, pronotum, and humeral zone of elytra, bar = 0.5 mm; B: Holotype, same photograph with arrows showing the phoretic Acarina, bar = 0.5 mm.