Helcophorus (Thibeteros) ekaterinae Kazantsev et Perkovsky

KAZANTSEV, SERGEY V. & PERKOVSKY, EVGENY E., 2022, Imprint of a Helcophorus Fairmaire, 1881: the first net-winged beetle (Coleoptera Lycidae) from Rovno amber, Zootaxa 5128 (1), pp. 84-90 : 86-87

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5128.1.4
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A5F79F57-8C14-47C8-BA3F-5AED0D6B83C7
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6498155
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A8241A-FFB9-F77D-F2C8-FE23EAF7D616
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Helcophorus (Thibeteros) ekaterinae Kazantsev et Perkovsky
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Helcophorus (Thibeteros) ekaterinae Kazantsev et Perkovsky , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 )

Material. Holotype ♂, specimen No. SIZK UA-28623 , Rovno amber, late Eocene.

Description. Sex unknown. Most of the body missing, the amber piece only carries an imprint of the anterior half of its upper part, the inclusion of antennae and the anterior leg in milky substance. Upperside light brown (quite probably red in the live specimen; Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 ).

Head about as wide as pronotum. Eyes bulging, relatively large, their diameter ca. 1/2 length of pronotum ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 ). Antennomeres 2 and 3 of approximately equal length.

Pronotum transverse, ca. 1.5 times wider than long, semi-trapezoidal, with pronounced acute posterior angles; median areole rhomboidal, broad in the middle, connected with lateral sides with narrow oblique, slightly curved costae. Scutellum (postnotal plate of mesonotal scutellum) transverse, parallel-sided, medially moderately triangularly notched, with broadly rounded distal lobes ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 ).

Elytra elongate, flattened, noticeably widened distally; with four primary costae, of which third distinctly stouter; interstices with rectangular transverse, their width ca. 2 times exceeding their length, cells; pubescence sparse and short, almost indistinguishable ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 ).

Length (of the roughly anterior half of the individual): 6.5 mm. Width at humeri: 2.0 mm. Length of antenna ca. 4.4 mm.

Syninclusions. SIZK UA-28623: 2 Dolichopodaidae, 2 Formicidae (1 Yantaromyrmex sp. ), Aranei, cobweb; SIZK UA-28624: 2 Formicidae , Chironomidae , Cecydomyiidae, Collembola, Entomobryomorpha.

Etymology. Helcophorus (Thibeteros) ekaterinae sp. nov. is named after our colleague Dr Ekaterina Sidorchuk (Moscow) , a prominent paleoentomologist who lost her life in a diving accident in the Maldives.

Diagnosis. The new species may be distinguished from the extant members of the same subgenus, H. (Th.) tricolor Kazantsev, 2000 and H. (Th.) sichuanensis Kazantsev, 2015 , by the noticeably more transverse elytral cells between the primary costae and narrowly notched scutellum with broadly rounded distal lobes ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 ), compared to less transverse elytral cells and broadly notched scutellum with narrowed distal lobes in the extant species of the subgenus ( Fig. 4 View FIGURES 3–4 ). It differs from the only other fossil Helcophorus species, H. (s. str.) berendti , by the distinctly sparser elytral vestiture, relatively larger eyes, and more transverse elytral cells ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 ).