Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T12:26:08.362Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The first skiff beetle (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Hydroscaphidae) from Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Chenyang Cai
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China,
Andrew E. Z. Short
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Division of Entomology, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, 1501 Crestline Drive Suite 140, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA
Diying Huang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China,

Abstract

The first skiff beetle fossil and earliest myxophagan, Hydroscapha jeholensis n. sp., is described and illustrated on the basis of a single specimen from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation at Huangbanjigou of Beipiao City, Liaoning Province, Northeastern China. Based on the combination of diagnostic characters of this specimen (e.g., minute and fusiform body, short elytra, tapered abdomen, separated meso- and metacoxae, and 3-segmented tarsi), we suggest that it is a definitive representative of Hydroscaphidae belonging to the widespread hydroscaphid genus Hydroscapha LeConte, 1874. It also represents the only impression fossil of the beetle suborder Myxophaga. This find displays great significance for shedding light on the preservation of the minute aquatic beetles, since it is the first well-preserved impression fossil reported for the suborder, rather than amber inclusion.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beutel, R. G. 1999. Phylogenetic analysis of Myxophaga (Coleoptera) with a redescription of Lepicerus horni (Lepiceridae). Zoologischer Anzeiger, 237:291308.Google Scholar
Beutel, R. G., Maddison, D. R., and Haas, A. 1999. Phylogenetic analysis of Myxophaga (Coleoptera) using larval characters. Systematic Entomology, 24:171192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J. M. 1976. Revision of Genus Sepedophilus Gistel (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) of America North of Mexico. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada, 99:189.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. M. 1993. A Revision of the Genera Bryoporus Kraatz and Bryophacis Reitter and two new related genera from America North of Mexico (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Tachyporinae). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada, 166:385.Google Scholar
Chang, M. M. 2003. The Jehol Biota: The emergence of feathered dinosaurs, beaked birds and flowering plants. Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers, Shanghai, 208 p. (In Chinese)Google Scholar
Crowson, R. A. 1955. The Natural Classification of the families of Coleopetera. Nathaniel Lloyd and Co., London, 187 p.Google Scholar
Falamarzi, S., Pütz, A., Heidari, M., and Nasserzadeh, H. 2010. Confirmed occurrence of Hydroscapha granulum in Iran, with notes on its biology (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Hydroscaphidae). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae, 50:97106.Google Scholar
Fikáček, M. and Šípková, H. 2009. New Asian Hydroscapha, with comments on male-female association of co-occuring species (Coleoptera, Myxophaga, Hydroscaphidae). Zootaxa, 2286:3148.Google Scholar
Ge, S. Q., Friedrich, F., and Beutel, R. G. 2010. On the systematic position and taxonomic rank of the extinct myxophagan dagger Haplochelus (Coleoptera). Insect Systematics and Evolution, 41:329338.Google Scholar
Gusarov, V. I. 2000. Mesotachyporus puer, a new genus and species of Cretaceous Tachyporinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from New Jersey amber, p. 255258. InGrimaldi, D. A.(ed.), Studies on Fossils in Amber, with Particular Reference to the Cretaceous of New Jersey. Backhuys, Leiden.Google Scholar
Hall, W. E. 2000. Hydroscaphidae LeConte, 1874, p. 2729. InArnett, R. H. and Thomas, M. C.(eds.), American Beetles. Vol. 1, Archostemata Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Hall, W. E. and Short, A. E. Z. 2010. A new species of Hydroscapha LeConte from northwestern Venezuela (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Hydroscaphidae). Zootaxa, 2358:4956.Google Scholar
Kirejtshuk, A. G. 2009. A new genus and species of Sphaeriusidae (Coleoptera, Myxophaga) from Lower Cretaceous Burmese amber. Denisia, 26:99102.Google Scholar
Kirejtshuk, A. G. and Poinar, G. 2006. Haplochelidae, a new family of cretaceous beetles (Coleoptera: Myxophaga) from Burmese amber. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 108:155164.Google Scholar
Leconte, J. L. 1874. Descriptions of new Coleoptera chiefly from the Pacific slope of North America. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 5:4372.Google Scholar
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. L. Salvii, Holmiae, 1, 824 p.Google Scholar
Reichardt, H. 1973. A critical study of the suborder Myxophaga, with a taxonomic reversion of the Brazilian Torridincolidae and Hydroscaphidae (Coleoptera). Arquivos de Zoologia, 24:73162.Google Scholar
Reichardt, H. and Hinton, H. E. 1976. On the New World beetles of the family Hydroscaphidae. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, São Paulo, 30:124.Google Scholar
Short, A. E. Z., Joly, L. J., and Garcia, M. 2010. Discovery of the skiff beetle genus Yara Reichardt and Hinton (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Hydroscaphidae) in Venezuela, with description of a new species. Coleopterists Bulletin, 64:151156.Google Scholar