Jiricateres Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky, 2025

Tshernyshev, Sergei E., Alekseev, Vitalii, Bukejs, Andris, Vasilenko, Dmitry V., Legalov, Andrej A. & Perkovsky, Evgeny E., 2025, Jiricateres-new extinct genus of Lophocateridae (Coleoptera: Cleroidea) from late Eocene European amber, Zootaxa 5715 (1), pp. 476-488 : 477-478

Genus Jiricateres Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky , gen. nov.

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( Figs 1–30 )

Type species: Jiricateres ukrainicus Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky , sp. nov., by present designation.

Description. Body elongate oval, with sides of pronotum and elytra flattened and slightly recurved upwards. Body length: 3.4–4.7 mm.

Head prognathous, flat, rounded, not wider than pronotum, surface of head evenly strongly punctured, microsculpture distinct, sparsely covered with recumbent strong short dark setae; frontoclypeal suture distinct but not deep; eyes round bare, with small facetes. Antennae 11-segmented with distinct 3-segmented club, scape oval, slightly widened, not wider that apical antennomeres. Ultimate palpomere elongate, securiform.

Pronotum weakly convex, narrow and transverse, subparallel, lateral sides impressed and widely flattened. Surface sparsely covered with deep punctures and with distinct microsculpture; covered with sparse, short, semierect setae.

Elytra simple, suboval and subparallel, distinctly flattened in basal half, with widely flattened epipleura from base towards the apex, evenly rounded and expanded posteriorly. Each elytron with 7 inconspicuous striae and two longitudinal rows of punctures in intervals between them. Surface sparsely covered with short, dark and adpressed setae. Epipleura distinct from base to apex, sparsely punctate. Elytral suture entire for whole length of elytra. Metathoracic wings normally developed.

Legs short, simple; femora thickened towards middle; tibiae shorter than femora and possessing two spurs of which outer strong and sharp; tarsi 5-5-5; claws with round plate at base possessing long erect setae.

Underside weakly shining, finely and densely punctate and evenly covered with fine, short, semierect setae; prothorax with narrow long process between coxae, surface with sparse, short, thick, semierect setae; pygidium (apical tergite) slightly domed, covered with erect setae on distal margin; ultimate ventrite 8 (apical sternite) simple, transverse.

Differential diagnosis. Jiricateres gen. nov. is close to the fossil genus Promanodes but differs by the combination of the follow characters: frontoclypeal suture distinct, not deep; clypeus not depressed above suture; surface of forehead with sparce semierect setae; eyes with small fine facetes; pronotum sparsely covered with adpressed setae and smoothed punctures; elytral striae indistinct and sometimes traceable, intervals with two regular rows of punctures; tarsi robust and shortened; and abdomen with 5 visible ventrites. In Promanodes frontoclypeal suture distinct, deep; clypeus depressed above suture and margin of labrum elevate; surface of forehead bare; eyes with rough facetes; pronotum evenly covered with short, adpressed setae and coarse punctures; elytral striae distinct, each interval with a regular row of punctures; tarsi narrow and elongate; and abdomen with 6 visible ventrites.

A new genus belongs to a group of lophocaterid genera with regular punctation of elytra in rows between carinae, flattened lateral margins of pronotum, and antennae 11-segmented (see a key bellow).

Figures

FIGURES 1–12. Jiricateres ukrainicus Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky, sp. nov., holotype No L-589 [SIZK]; 1–5—schematic drawings: 1—habitus, ventral view; 2—antenna; 3—foreleg; 4—middle leg; 5—hind leg; 6—microphotographs of habitus, dorsal view; 7—habitus, ventral view; 8—head, frontal view; 9—details of forebody, ventral view; 10—details of forebody, dorsal view; 11—details of thorax, ventral view; 12—habitus, left dorso-lateral view.

FIGURES 13–19. Jiricateres damzeni Tshernyshev, Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky, sp. nov., holotype No UA-9999 [SIZK]; 13—microphotographs of habitus, dorsal view; 14—habitus, ventral view; 15—schematic drawing of habitus, ventral view; 16—microphotographs of habitus, left lateral view; 17—details of forebody, dorsal view; 18—details of forebody, ventral view; 19—details of thorax, lateral view. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 20–26. Jiricateres storozhenkoi Tshernyshev,Alekseev, Bukejs, Vasilenko, Legalov & Perkovsky, sp. nov., holotype No KAM 5124/144 [KRAM] (20, 21, 23–26) and paratype No ABAC-069 [ACAB] (22); 20—microphotographs of habitus, dorsal view; 21—habitus, ventral view; 22—habitus, dorsal view; 23—schematic drawing of antenna; 24—head, ventral view; 25—details of forebody, dorsal view; 26—thorax, ventral view. Scale bars = 1.0 mm (20–22); 0.5 mm (24–26).

FIGURES 27–30. Jiricateres alleni (Kolibáč, 2011), comb. nov.; 27, 28—specimen No JDC-7647 [JDC], habitus in dorsal (27) and in ventral (29) view; 29, 30—specimen No ABAC-068 [ACAB], habitus in dorsal (29) and in ventral (30) view. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.