Cretocantharis veda, Hsiao & Li & Ren & Pang, 2021

Hsiao, Yun, Li, Yun, Ren, Dong & Pang, Hong, 2021, Morphological phylogenetics provide new insights into the classification and evolution of fossil soldier beetles from Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Cantharidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 193, pp. 1271-1293 : 1282-1283

† CRETOCANTHARIS VEDA SP. NOV.

( FIGS 3–4 )

Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: F66A3FAF-BC8E-4101-A63D-93BC3A93D112.

Type material: Holotype: Male; no. CNU008029 ; earliest Cenomanian, Hukawng Valley, northern Myanmar; deposited in the Key Laboratory of Insect Evolution & Environmental Changes, Capital Normal University in Beijing, China.

Diagnosis: As for the genus.

Description: Male. Body 2.6 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, parallel-sided, densely pubescent. Body yellowish brown, with dark brown head and elytra ( Fig. 3 ). Head ( Fig. 4A, B ) 0.4 mm long, 0.6 mm wide. Vertex smooth, flat. Eyes large, hemispherically prominent, with fine facets, interocular distance 0.6 times maximum eye diameter. Anterior margin of clypeus straight, frontoclypeal suture absent. Labrum subquadrate, membranous, exposed. Gular sutures close, nearly confluent. Mandibles elongate, strongly curved at apical fourth, with smooth margins. Apical segments of maxillary palpi and labial palpi flattened, securiform. Antennae ( Fig. 3A ) filiform, 11-segmented, extending to half of elytral length; scape slender, widened apically; pedicel and antennomere 3 cylindrical, subequal in length; antennomeres 4–11 slightly compressed; relative lengths of antennomeres 3–11: 1.0:2.1:2.0:2.2:2.2:2.3: 2.2:2.2:2.3. Pronotum ( Fig. 4C ) 0.6 mm long, 0.4 mm wide, subquadrate. Anterior and posterior margins arcuate, lateral margins subparallel; disc slightly convex, with a shallow longitudinal median groove. Scutellum parallel-sided, straight at apex. Elytra ( Figs 3A , 4D ) 1.9 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, parallelsided, narrower posteriorly; each elytron with three longitudinal costae, stouter at humeral portion; costal interspaces with inconspicuous cells; hindwing well-developed, partially exposed beyond elytra. Abdomen ( Fig. 3B ) weakly sclerotized, with eight ventrites; first six segments broad, as wide as elytra; last two segments ( Fig. 4E ) narrower, ventrite 7 with apical margin concave, ventrite 8 with apical margin moderately emarginate. Aedeagus ( Fig. 4E ) partially exposed, with pair of slender processes curved dorsally, process widened apically, with pointed apex. Legs ( Figs 3 , 4F ) slender; profemur length 0.6 mm, mesofemur 0.6 mm, and metafemur 0.7 mm; tibiae slender, nearly straight, with pair of tibial spurs, protibia length 0.7 mm, mesotibia 0.7 mm, and metatibia 0.9 mm; tarsal formula 5-5-5; tarsomeres 1–3 simple, tarsomere 1 as long as combined length of tarsomere 2 and 3; tarsomere 4 bilobed; claws simple, with minute dent at base.

Etymology: The specific epithet is derived from the Véda (‘the knowledge’), a collection of poems composed in archaic Sanskrit by Indo-European-speaking peoples who lived in north-west India during the 2 nd millennium BCE. We chose this name to refer to its discovery bringing invaluable knowledge to the palaeontology of Cantharidae . It is a noun in apposition.

Figures

Figure 3. Habitus of Cretocantharis veda: A, dorsal view; B, ventral-lateral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Figure 4. Details of body parts of Cretocantharis veda: A, head, dorsal view; B, ditto, ventral-lateral view; C, pronotum; D, elytra; E, caudal segments; F, tarsus of left hind leg. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.