Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 6 No. 5: October 2023
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2023-10-30
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.5.4
Page range: 455–458
Abstract views: 172
PDF downloaded: 84

An unusual artematopodid beetle from Early Cretaceous Wealden amber (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Artematopodidae)

School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Centre for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Centre for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Lebanese University, Faculty of Science II, Natural Sciences Department, Fanar - El-Matn, PO Box 26110217, Lebanon
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Centre for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Centre for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Coleoptera Elateroidea Artematopodidae

Abstract

Early Cretaceous Wealden amber of the Isle of Wight (early Barremian, ~125 Ma) represents one of the oldest known fossiliferous ambers. Here we describe the first fossil beetle from the deposit, and first British coleopteran amber inclusion, the artematopodid Valdopogon simpsoni gen. et sp. nov. Despite its fragmentary nature, the fossil possesses a puzzling combination of characters unseen in modern Artematopodidae, namely equally long abdominal ventrites I and II, concave sutures between ventrites I–V, and absence of elytral striation. Valdopogon contributes to our understanding of the morphological evolution of this once diverse group of elateroid beetles.

References

  1. Azar, D., Perrichot, V., Néraudeau, D. & Nel, A. (2003) New psychodids from the Cretaceous ambers of Lebanon and France, with a discussion of Eophlebotomus connectens Cockerell, 1920 (Diptera, Psychodidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 96, 117–126. https://doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746(2003)096[0117:NPFTCA]2.0.CO;2
  2. Baranov, V., Giłka, W., Zakrzewska, M. & Jarzembowski, E. (2019) New non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Lower Cretaceous Wealden amber of the Isle of Wight (UK). Cretaceous Research, 95, 138–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.11.012
  3. Bray, P.S. & Anderson, K.B. (2008) The nature and fate of natural resins in the geosphere XIII: a probable pinaceous resin from the early Cretaceous (Barremian), Isle of Wight. Geochemical Transactions, 9, 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/1467-4866-9-3
  4. Cai, C.Y., Fu, Y.Z. & Huang, D.Y. (2020) A large artematopodid beetle (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Artematopodidae) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its systematic position. Cretaceous Research, 105, 103986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.10.009
  5. Cai, C.Y., Tihelka, E., Giacomelli, M., Lawrence, J.F., Ślipiński, A., Kundrata, R., Yamamoto, S., Thayer, M.K., Newton, A.F., Leschen, R.A.B., Gimmel, M.L., Lü, L., Engel, M.S., Bouchard, P., Huang, D.Y., Pisani, D. & Donoghue, P.C.J. (2022) Integrated phylogenomics and fossil data illuminate the evolution of beetles. Royal Society Open Science, 9, 211771. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211771
  6. Cai, C.Y., Lawrence, J.F., Ślipiński, A. & Huang, D.Y. (2015) Jurassic artematopodid beetles and their implications for the early evolution of Artematopodidae (Coleoptera). Systematic Entomology, 40, 779–788. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12131
  7. Crowson, R.A. (1973) On a new superfamily Artematopoidea of polyphagan beetles, with the definition of two new fossil genera from the Baltic Amber. Journal of Natural History, 7, 225–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937300770181
  8. Delclòs, X., Peñalver, E., Barrón, E., Peris, D., Grimaldi, D.A., Holz, M., Labandeira, C.C., Saupe, E.E., Scotese, C.R., Solórzano-Kraemer, M.M., Álvarez-Parra, S., Arillo, A., Azar, D., Cadena, E.A., Dal Corso, J., Kvaček, J., Monleón-Getino, A., Nel, A., Peyrot, D., Bueno-Cebollada, C.A., Gallardo, A., González-Fernández, B., Goula, M., Jaramillo, C., Kania-Kłosok, I., López-Del Valle, R., Lozano, R.P., Meléndez, N., Menor-Salván, C., Peña-Kairath, C., Perrichot, V., Rodrigo, A., Sánchez-García, A., Santer, M., Sarto i Monteys, V., Uhl, D., Viejo, J.L. & Pérez-de la Fuente, R. (2023) Amber and the Cretaceous resinous interval. Earth-Science Reviews, 243, 104486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104486
  9. Douglas, H.B., Kundrata, R., Brunke, A.J., Escalona, H.E., Chapados, J.T., Eyres, J., Richter, R., Savard, K., Ślipiński, A., McKenna, D. & Dettman, J.R. (2021) Anchored phylogenomics, evolution and systematics of Elateridae: are all bioluminescent Elateroidea derived click beetles? Biology, 10, 451. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10060451
  10. Gale, A. (2019) Correlation, age and significance of Turonian Chalk hardgrounds in southern England and northern France: The roles of tectonics, eustasy, erosion and condensation. Cretaceous Research, 103, 104164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.06.010
  11. Hörnschemeyer, T. (1998) New species of Electribius Crowson 1973 (Coleoptera: Artematopodidae) from Baltic amber. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 72, 299–305. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02988360
  12. Jarzembowski, E. (1995) The first insects in Cretaceous (Wealden) amber from the UK. Geology Today, 11, 41–42.
  13. Jarzembowski, E., Azar, D. & Nel, A. (2008) A new chironomid (Insecta: Diptera) from Wealden amber (Lower Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight (UK). Geologica Acta, 6, 285–291. https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000000257
  14. Kundrata, R., Bocakova, M. & Bocak, L. (2014) The comprehensive phylogeny of the superfamily Elateroidea (Coleoptera: Elateriformia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 76, 162–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.03.012
  15. Lawrence, J.F. (2005) Brevipogon, a new genus of North American Artematopodidae (Coleoptera), with a key to world genera. Coleopterists Bulletin, 59, 223–236. https://doi.org/10.1649/749
  16. Lawrence, J.F. (2010) Artematopodidae Lacordaire, 1857. In: Leschen, R.A.B., Beutel, R.G. & Lawrence, J.F. (Eds), Handbuch der Zoologie/Handbook of Zoology. Band/Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband/Part 38. Coleoptera, Beetles. Volume 2. Morphology and systematics (Polyphaga partim). W. DeGruyter, Berlin, pp. 42–47. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110911213.42
  17. Li, Y.D., Huang, D.Y. & Cai, C.Y. (2021) Revisiting the systematic positions of two Notocupes species from the Lower Cretaceous of South China (Coleoptera: Polyphaga). Zootaxa, 5005 (1), 86–90. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5005.1.7
  18. Li, Y.D., Kundrata, R., Huang, D.Y. & Cai, C.Y. (2022) First Artematopodidae from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Elateroidea). Zootaxa, 5129 (2), 257–271. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5129.2.6
  19. McKenna, D.D., Wild, A.L., Kanda, K., Bellamy, C.L., Beutel, R.G., Caterino, M.S., Farnum, C.W., Hawks, D.C., Ivie, M.A., Jameson, M.L., Leschen, R.A.B., Marvaldi, A.E., Mchugh, J.V., Newton, A.F., Robertson, J.A., Thayer, M.K., Whiting, M.F., Lawrence, J.F., Ślipiński, A., Maddison, D.R. & Farrell, B.D. (2015) The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end-Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Systematic Entomology, 40, 835–880. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12132
  20. Nicholas, C.J., Henwood, A.A. & Simpson, M. (1993) A new discovery of early Cretaceous (Wealden) amber from the Isle of Wight. Geological Magazine, 130, 847–850. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756800023207
  21. Peris, D., Ruzzier, E., Perrichot, V. & Delclòs, X. (2016) Evolutionary and paleobiological implications of Coleoptera (Insecta) from Tethyan-influenced Cretaceous ambers. Geoscience Frontiers, 7, 695–706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2015.12.007
  22. Perkovsky, E.E., Olmi, M., Müller, P., Guglielmino, A., Jarzembowski, E.A., Capradossi, L. & Rasnitsyn, A.P. (2021) A review of the fossil Embolemidae (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea), with description of seven new species and history of the family. Cretaceous Research, 121, 104708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104708
  23. Selden, P.A. (2002) First British Mesozoic spider, from Cretaceous amber of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Palaeontology, 45, 973–983. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4983.00271
  24. Wu, H., Coty, D. & Ding, M. (2015) First artematopodid beetle in Mexican amber and its biogeographic implications (Coleoptera, Artematopodidae). Alcheringa, 39, 508–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2015.1041306
  25. Zhang, S.Q., Che, L.H., Li, Y., Liang, D., Pang, H., Ślipiński, A. & Zhang, P. (2018) Evolutionary history of Coleoptera revealed by extensive sampling of genes and species. Nature Communications, 9, 205. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02644-4