First fossil tooth-necked fungus beetle (Coleoptera: Derodontidae): Juropeltastica sinica gen. n. sp. n. from the Middle Jurassic of China

Abstract

The sole specimen described here was collected from a fossil locality near Daohugou Village, Inner Mongolia, China, from which plants, diverse insects, conchostracans, anostracans, spiders, salamanders, pterosaurs, and mammals have also been discovered (Huang et al., 2006). The specimen is housed in the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS, Nanjing, China. The specimen was observed and photographed using a Zeiss Discovery V20 stereo microscope. It was examined both dry (under low-angled light) and under 70% alcohol.

The beetle tree of life reveals thatColeoptera survived end‐Permian mass extinction to diversify during theCretaceous terrestrial revolution

“…(). A recently described fossil derodontid from the middle Jurassic (∼165 Ma; Cai et al ., ), is not only the first known for the early‐divergent polyphagan family Derodontidae, but also fully consistent with our results, which indicate that crown group Derodontidae first appeared ∼175 Ma. Some estimated ages in our study are much older than select other estimates.…”

“…For example, crown group Chrysomeloidea and Curculionoidea are estimated herein to have appeared near the end of the Jurassic (∼145 and ∼150 Ma, respectively), near the first appearance of flowering plants (Bell et al, 2010), and consistent with estimated divergences within Phytophaga and its descendant superfamilies Curculionoidea and Chrysomeloidea, as reported by . A recently described fossil derodontid from the middle Jurassic (∼165 Ma; Cai et al, 2014), is not only the first known for the early-divergent polyphagan family Derodontidae, but also fully consistent with our results, which indicate that crown group Derodontidae first appeared ∼175 Ma. Some estimated ages in our study are much older than select other estimates.…”

The peril of dating beetles

“…A more detailed justification after Parham et al 's () criteria is provided in F ile S 3. References: 1, Kirejtshuk et al (); 2, Crowson (); 3, Tan et al (); 4, Kirejtshuk & Poinar (); 5, Ge et al (); 6, Prokin et al (2013a); 7, Cassola & Werner, (); 8, Cai et al (); 9, Cai et al (); 10, Fikáček et al (); 11, Nikolajev & Ren (); 12, Nikolajev & Ren (); 13, Bai et al (); 14, Jin et al (); 15, Pan et al (); 16, Cai et al (); 17, Peris et al (); 18, Prokin & Ren, (); 19, Cai et al (); 20, Peris et al (); 21, Peris et al (); 22, Kirejtshuk & Nel (); 23, Kirejtshuk et al (); 24, Perrichot et al (); 25, Batelka et al (); 26, Falin & Engel (); 27, Engel & Grimaldi (); 28, Liu et al (); 29, Grimaldi & Engel (); 30, Kirejtshuk et al (); 31, Liu et al (); 32, Yu et al (); 33, Cai et al (); 34, Wang et al (); 35, Poinar (); 36, Legalov (); 37, Kirejtshuk et al ().…”

Mesozoic sooty mould beetles as living relicts in New Zealand

“…Members of the Gondwanan family Priasilphidae have been reported with sooty moulds in their hindguts but may only be opportunists [17]. Recent molecular data indicate that the endemic groups Agapythidae, Cyclaxyridae and Metaxina, and the more widespread family Derodontidae, are ancient [18,19], with corroborative fossil data mounting [20]. Surprisingly, some of these lineages pre-date the fragmentation of Pangaea and no longer exist anywhere but New Zealand, and, moreover, many groups are poorly diverse, having one to two living species similar to other New Zealand relicts (e.g.…”