Three new species of the extant genus Eucinetus from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Eucinetidae)
Three new species of plate-thigh beetles are described and figured from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, all representing the extant genus Eucinetus Germar. The species, Eucinetus debilispinus Li & Cai sp. nov., E. panghongae Li & Cai sp. nov., and E. zhenhuai Li & Cai sp. nov., are distinguished from each other by the forms of the antennomeres, leg spination, and form of the spurs. The genus Eucinetus represents a key example of long-term evolutionary stasis with a subcortical lifestyle. This further demonstrates the role of stable cryptic microhabitats in the persistence of some lineages over vast spans of geological time.
Authors
- Diying Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5637-4867)
- Yanda Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9439-202X)
- Michael S. Engel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3067-077X)
- Chenyang Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9283-8323)
Institutions
- National University of San Marcos (PE)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- At Bristol (GB)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zootaxa
- Published
- 2024-08-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5492.2.4
- Primary Topic
- Coleoptera Taxonomy and Distribution
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00