A new genus and species of fossil Eodromeinae from the Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning, China (Coleoptera: Adephaga: Trachypachidae)

Abstract

A new genus and species of fossil trachypachid Fortiseode pervalimand Jia & Ren gen. et sp. nov., is described and illustrated. The new fossil with large and strong mandibles, short and robust legs, and pronotum widest near apical angle differs from other members of Eodromeinae. It is the first record of fossil trachypachid from the Mesozoic Yixian Formation of Huangbanjigou, Liaoning, China.

On the phylogeny and evolution of Mesozoic and extant lineages of Adephaga (Coleoptera, Insecta)

“…Potential problems with the classification of Adephaga, especially with respect to †Coptoclavidae, were pointed out in Beutel (1997). In the present contribution, the monophyly and relationships of this family and other extinct lineages are re‐evaluated using a formal cladistic approach, based mainly on data extracted from the thorough treatments of fossil adephagans by Ponomarenko (1977, 1980, 1985, 1993) and on more recent studies (Soriano et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2009, 2010; Jia et al., 2011; Prokin and Ren, 2011).…”

“…In contrast, neither the included genera of †Eodromeinae were retrieved as a clade, nor Trachypachidae including this fossil lineage (Figs 1–3). A clear result was the placement of the presumptive eodromeine † Fortiseode (Jia et al., 2011) in a clade comprising the included carabid terminals (Figs 1–3). The connection between the prothorax and remaining body is clearly of the derived ball‐and‐socket type as described in Beutel (1992) for “higher carabids”, with a mesoventrite lacking paired procoxal rests and the hexagonal groove, both features present in the groundplan of Adephaga excluding Gyrinidae.…”

“…From its habitus, † Fortiseode resembles Scaritinae: the head is short and broad, the mandibles are large and prominent, the prothorax as a whole is strongly constricted posteriorly, and the protibiae are distinctly widening distally. A re‐examination of the specimen described by Jia et al. (2011: fig.…”

“…by Ponomarenko (1977)], † Eodromeus [based on the description of † Eodromeus spp. by Ponomarenko (1977), Ponomarenko (1992)], † Fortiseode [based on specimens form the collection of the Capital Normal University (Beijing) and the description of † Fortiseode pervalimand by Jia et al. (2011)], † Sinodromeus liutiaogouensis Wang, Zhang and Ponomerenko 2012 [based on specimens from the collection of the Nanjing Institue of Geology and Palaeontology and the description by Wang et al.…”

Mesozoic Trachypachidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) from China

“…Until now, more than 40 species within some 20 genera have been described from the Triassic of Central Asia and France, the Jurassic of Germany, Russia, Central Asia and China, and the Lower Cretaceous of Russia, Spain and China (Ponomarenko 1977, 2002; Soriano et al. 2007; Jia et al. 2011).…”