Discovery of the fossil true bug species Urochela (Urochela) cf. melaina Zhang, 1989 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Urostylididae) from Japan, suggesting a wide distribution of the U. (U.) quadrinotata (Reuter, 1881) species group in East Asia in the past

The Early Miocene lacustrine deposit (24.1 ± 2.4 Ma) of Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, has preserved the fossil fauna of the time when the Palaearctic realm of Japan was a part of the Eurasian Continent. In this study, we report a fossil specimen of the family Urostylididae Dallas, 1851 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomomorpha: Pentatomoidea) from this deposit as Urochela (Urochela) cf. melaina Zhang, 1989 (Urostylidini), which belongs to the U. (U.) quadrinotata species group. This discovery suggests that the U. (U.) quadrinotata species group, which is monophyletic in the molecular phylogenetic analyses of the previous study, originated before the Early Miocene and that this species group was widely distributed in East Asia in the past.