Abstract:Th e fossil ship-timber beetle Cratoatractocerus grimaldii gen. et sp.n. is described from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. Th e new taxon is placed within Atractocerinae. It is distinguished from all modern genera of the subfamily by a M+Cu fork in the hind wing venation. Cratoatractocerus grimaldii is the oldest known representative of Lymexylidae and considered as the most basal member of Atractocerinae. Th is fossil proves that this subfamily appeared at least by the Early Cretaceous.
“…My study provides the first documented evidence of the elytral reduction in Lymexylidae, which can now be reliably traced back to the mid-Cretaceous (~earliest Cenomanian, ca. 99 Mya 18 ).Figure 3Phylogenetic framework of Lymexylidae and Atractocerinae, based on Wheeler 10 , Paulus 11 , and Wolf-Schwenninger 28 . ( a ) Time-dated cladogram of Lymexylidae, ( b ) hypothesised generic cladogram of Atractocerinae.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Vetatractocerus gen. nov. is tentatively placed as a sister taxon to Urtea based on the distinctly modified metacoxae, large, contiguous eyes, and anteriorly produced pronotum. Cratoatractocerus was considered the most basal member of Atractocerinae based on its hindwing venation, although the general characters resemble those of Raractocetus 28 . Since there is significant lack of morphological information on this fossil genus, I tentatively followed the view of Wolf-Schwenninger 28 .…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…If these fossils are truly lymexylids, this is consistent with the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous origin of the crown group of the family, suggested by previous molecular studies 16 , 26 . Currently, the earliest definitive fossil of the family is Cratoatractocerus grimaldii Wolf-Schwenninger described based on a compression fossil from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation (~113 Mya 27 ) in Brazil 28 (Fig. 3a ).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This fossil species was assigned to the subfamily Atractocerinae based on several characters, including general body shape, large contiguous eyes, two longitudinal ridges on the mesoscutellum, and heavily sclerotised female genitalia 28 . This assignment appears correct, although, unfortunately, the elytra of this fossil taxon were originally missing 28 . Until now, this uncertainty prevented us from elucidating the origin and evolutionary history of elytra reduction in Atractocerinae, since no other fossil lymexylid has been described from the Mesozoic.…”
Beetles (Coleoptera) comprise about one quarter of all described animal species. One of the main contributors to their evolutionary success is the elytra, or hardened forewings, which have protective functions while maintaining their ability to fly. Unlike other beetles, some ship-timber beetles (Lymexylidae) have extremely small elytra and largely exposed functional hindwings. There is little fossil evidence illuminating the evolutionary history of short elytra in lymexylids. Here, I report five well-preserved lymexylid fossils in mid-Cretaceous and Cenozoic ambers from Myanmar (ca. 99 million years ago [Mya]), Russia (ca. 44 Mya), and the Dominican Republic (ca. 16 Mya). Three Cretaceous fossils have strongly reduced, shortened elytra, with unexpected variation in elytral size and shape, whereas very small, modified elytra are found only in much younger Dominican amber. These morphologically diverse extinct lymexylids shed new light on the early origin and evolutionary history of elytra reduction and its diverse variation in the ship-timber beetles. Based on the striking morphological similarities with extant lymexylids, these extinct taxa might have had the same, or similar, ecological, behavioural, and flight modes as the extant ship-timber beetles.
“…My study provides the first documented evidence of the elytral reduction in Lymexylidae, which can now be reliably traced back to the mid-Cretaceous (~earliest Cenomanian, ca. 99 Mya 18 ).Figure 3Phylogenetic framework of Lymexylidae and Atractocerinae, based on Wheeler 10 , Paulus 11 , and Wolf-Schwenninger 28 . ( a ) Time-dated cladogram of Lymexylidae, ( b ) hypothesised generic cladogram of Atractocerinae.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Vetatractocerus gen. nov. is tentatively placed as a sister taxon to Urtea based on the distinctly modified metacoxae, large, contiguous eyes, and anteriorly produced pronotum. Cratoatractocerus was considered the most basal member of Atractocerinae based on its hindwing venation, although the general characters resemble those of Raractocetus 28 . Since there is significant lack of morphological information on this fossil genus, I tentatively followed the view of Wolf-Schwenninger 28 .…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…If these fossils are truly lymexylids, this is consistent with the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous origin of the crown group of the family, suggested by previous molecular studies 16 , 26 . Currently, the earliest definitive fossil of the family is Cratoatractocerus grimaldii Wolf-Schwenninger described based on a compression fossil from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation (~113 Mya 27 ) in Brazil 28 (Fig. 3a ).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This fossil species was assigned to the subfamily Atractocerinae based on several characters, including general body shape, large contiguous eyes, two longitudinal ridges on the mesoscutellum, and heavily sclerotised female genitalia 28 . This assignment appears correct, although, unfortunately, the elytra of this fossil taxon were originally missing 28 . Until now, this uncertainty prevented us from elucidating the origin and evolutionary history of elytra reduction in Atractocerinae, since no other fossil lymexylid has been described from the Mesozoic.…”
Beetles (Coleoptera) comprise about one quarter of all described animal species. One of the main contributors to their evolutionary success is the elytra, or hardened forewings, which have protective functions while maintaining their ability to fly. Unlike other beetles, some ship-timber beetles (Lymexylidae) have extremely small elytra and largely exposed functional hindwings. There is little fossil evidence illuminating the evolutionary history of short elytra in lymexylids. Here, I report five well-preserved lymexylid fossils in mid-Cretaceous and Cenozoic ambers from Myanmar (ca. 99 million years ago [Mya]), Russia (ca. 44 Mya), and the Dominican Republic (ca. 16 Mya). Three Cretaceous fossils have strongly reduced, shortened elytra, with unexpected variation in elytral size and shape, whereas very small, modified elytra are found only in much younger Dominican amber. These morphologically diverse extinct lymexylids shed new light on the early origin and evolutionary history of elytra reduction and its diverse variation in the ship-timber beetles. Based on the striking morphological similarities with extant lymexylids, these extinct taxa might have had the same, or similar, ecological, behavioural, and flight modes as the extant ship-timber beetles.
“…A paleoentomofauna brasileira continua a se desenvolver notavelmente, apesar da desaceleração no número de trabalhos neste milênio, e mostra um avanço em termos de descrições taxonômicas de espécies, como podemos notar pelo volume de descrições para o Cretáceo Inferior (Formação Santana). Como exemplo desse crescimento podemos destacar a ordem Coleoptera, que até 2002 havia apenas duas espécies conhecidas e atualmente apresenta onze espécies formalmente descritas (Cassola & Werner, 2004;Gratshev & Legalov, 2014;Santos et al, 2011;Schomann & Solodovnikov, 2012;Wolf-Schwenninger, 2011;Zherichin & Gratshev, 2004), ou seja, um aumento de 550% na riqueza desta ordem.…”
Resumo O presente trabalho fornece um panorama geral sobre o conhecimento da paleoentomologia brasileira até o presente, abordando insetos do Paleozoico, Mesozoico e Cenozoico, incluindo a atualização das espécies publicadas até o momento após a última grande revisão bibliográfica, mencionando ainda as unidades geológicas em que ocorrem e os trabalhos relacionados.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
