Cephalallus vitalii, Legalov & Vasilenko & Perkovsky, 2024

Legalov, Andrei A., Vasilenko, Dmitry V. & Perkovsky, Evgeny E., 2024, A new species of the genus Cephalallus Sharp, 1905 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) from the Ypresian of Denmark, Ecologica Montenegrina 71, pp. 261-268 : 262-268

Cephalallus vitalii sp. n. ( Fig. 1 )

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:52E36679-06A4-41E5-A7F2-5A3633793C53

Type material: no. MGUH 34320 (part and counterpart) (accession numbers GM 2024.1a [part] and GM 2024.1b [counterpart]), Fur Formation, Ypresian .

Description. Body yellowish-brown, covered with sparse setae. Head short. Mandibles large. Eyes large, rounded, not emarginated. Frons flattened, shorter than diameter of eye. Temples longer than length of eye. Neck without constriction. Antennae attached in front of eyes, long, extending beyond middle of elytra. First antennomere subconical, 3.0 times as long as wide in middle. Second antennomere conical, about 0.4 times as long as and slightly wider than first antennomere. Third–ninth antennomeres long-conical. Third antennomere 2.4 times as long as wide at apex, 1.5 times as long as and slightly narrower than second antennomere. Fourth antennomere about 4.2 times as long as wide at apex, about 1.4 times as long as and about 0.8 times as narrow as third antennomere. Third and fourth antennomeres longer than fifth antennomere. Fifth antennomere 4.4 times as long as wide at apex, about 1.3 times as long as and about 1.3 times as wide as fourth antennomere. Sixth antennomere about 3.3 times as long as wide at apex, about 0.8 times as long as and slightly wider than fifth antennomere. Seventh antennomere 5.6 times as long as wide at apex, slightly longer and about 0.6 times as narrow as sixth antennomere. Eighth antennomere about 3.3 times as long as wide at apex, about 0.8 times as long as and 1.4 times as wide as seventh antennomere. Pronotum campanulate, longer than wide at apex, about 0.8 times as long as wide in middle and about 1.1 times as long as width at base. Maximum width in middle. Disk densely punctate. Sides weakly rounded. Sides of pronotum without spines. Scutellum wide, about 0.3 times as long as wide. Elytra suboval, about 2.6 times as long as pronotum, about 2.3 times as long as wide at base, about 2.1 times as long as wide across midlength, about 2.8 times as wide as apical fourth. Elytral intervals flattened. Elytral striae distinct. Epipleuron distinct. Precoxal portion of prosternum elongated. Postcoxal portion of prosternum very short. Metepisternum elongate and quite narrow. First ventrite as long as of metacoxal cavity. Second ventrite as long as first ventrite. Third ventrite slightly shorter than second ventrite. Fourth ventrite as long as to third ventrite. Fifth ventrite slightly shorter than fourth ventrite. Femora weakly clavate. Tibiae narrow. Total body length: 11.9 mm.

Type strata. Fur Formation.

Differential diagnosis. The new species differs from other species of this genus in the eyes without emargination, shorter third and fourth antennomeres, and the sides of the pronotum without granules.

Etymology. Patronymic. In honour of Francesco Vitali (National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg), who studies the extinct and extant Cerambycidae .

Remarks. The species is placed in the subfamily Spondylidinae because of the antennae placed in front of the eyes, the sides of the pronotum without spines and the neck without constriction. It belongs to the tribe Asemini because its antennae are long and extend beyond the middle of the elytra, the elytra are striate, the eyes are not emarginate, and the third and fourth antennomeres together are longer than the fifth antennomere. The first character also indicates its affinity to the genus Cephalallus .

Discussion

Extant Spondylidinae are very common in the Holarctic temperate conifer and mixed forests. In the Priabonian amber forests they were common as well, i. e. Nothorhina granulicollis Zang, 1905 is the most common cerambycid in Baltic amber ( Vitali 2009). Other European amber cerambycid species are mostly known only by holotype (and finding of the second specimen becomes a serious reason for publication), so the abundance of Nothorhina granulicollis is at least comparable to the abundance of all other two dozens European amber species taken together. The coleopterofauna of Rovno amber is very different from that of Baltic amber ( Telnov et al. 2023 and references therein), yet the Nothorhina specimen at least very close to granulicollis is also known there (Vitali pers. com. 2023, our data). Nothorhina is the first common cerambycid genus to be found in these two ambers (Vitali 2023; Vitali & Perkovsky 2023). The genus Nothorhina was widely distributed in the Priabonian amber forests; its abundance resulted probably resulted from a connection with amber tree or another common conifers in amber forests. The Fur Formation is a marine geological formation, so only good flying and/or very common big insects could be buried 100 km offshore. This finding suggests that the subfamily was an important part of the microthermal ( Jenkins Shaw et al. 2024) European fauna already in the Ypresian.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Arden Roy Bashforth (NHMD) for providing access to the specimen described in the paper, Alisa A. Perkovsky (NHMD) for help with photography and for the finding cerambycid specimen in an unnumbered part of the former Rettig collection, to René Lyng Sylvestersen (Museum Salling, Fur Museum) for information about the Rettig collection, to Aleksandr P. Rasnitsyn (Paleontological Institute, Moscow) for discussion and anonymous reviewers for improving the overall quality of the manuscript.

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Figures

Figure 1. Cephalallus vitalii sp. n., no. MGUH 34320, body. a – part of impression, b – counterpart of impression, c – part of impression, with alcohol, d – counterpart of impression, with alcohol, e – outline, part of impression, f – outline, counterpart of impression. Scale bars = 2.0 mm.