A new fossil soldier beetle (Coleoptera, Cantharidae, Silinae) from Eocene Baltic amber

Abstract

A new genus and species of fossil soldier beetle Markus karenae gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated from Eocene Baltic amber. Its morphological characteristics place it in the taxonomic position of the subfamily Silinae. It is characterized by a particular lateral pronotal shape with two difform processes, pronotum slightly longer than wide, with a blunt and evident angle near the basal angles, anterior and posterior margins flat and with shallow punctation, and lateral margin strongly granulose and in relief. Furthermore, each of its legs has a claw with one acute tooth at the base, except for the posterior legs where the tooth appears to be blunt. The new taxon is morphologically compared with the other fossil representatives of Silinae from Baltic amber, and with extant Palearctic genera.

A new fossil soldier beetle (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) of the genus CacomorphocerusSchaufuss, 1892 from Baltic amber

“…Cantharids from the latter deposits were cataloged, along with detailed references, by Fanti (2017a). Recent new fossils have been described from Baltic amber by Fanti (2017bFanti ( , 2017cFanti ( , 2018Fanti ( , 2019b, Fanti & caStiglione (2017), Fanti & kupryjanowicz (2017Fanti & kupryjanowicz ( , 2018, Fanti & vitali (2017), , Fanti & michalSki (2018), Fanti & m. j. pankowSki (2018), ), kazantSev (2018, BukejS et al (2019), Fanti & Sontag (2019), kupryjanowicz & Fanti (2019), and pariSi & Fanti (2019a, 2019b Fanti & pankowSki 2019). The genus is highly variable, especially regarding the antennal and pronotal shapes.…”

Six new species of fossil soldier beetles (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from Eocene Baltic amber

“…The most common amber is from the Baltic region, and Cantharidae are frequently found as inclusions. Ten genera of soldier beetles discovered in Baltic amber have extant species, while 16 genera are extinct (Kazantsev, 2013;Fanti, 2017a, b;Fanti & Damgaard, 2018;Fanti & M.J. Pankowski, 2018;Fanti & M.K. Pankowski, 2018).…”

A new fossil Silis Charpentier, 1825 from Baltic amber (Cantharidae, Silinae, Silini)

“…The subfamily is quite well represented in Tertiary deposits. Eocene Silini are known from three extinct genera found in Baltic amber: Electrosilis Kazantsev, 2013;Curche Alekseev & Kazantsev, 2014;and Markus Fanti & M. J. Pankowski, 2018 (Kazantsev 2013;Alekseev & Kazantsev 2014;Fanti & Pankowski 2018). In addition, there is one known fossil of the extant genus Autosilis Kazantsev, 2011 and one of the extant genus Podosilis Wittmer, 1978 from Baltic amber (Fanti & Damgaard 2018;Kazantsev 2020).…”