Pharaxonothinae, Crowson, 1952

Alekseev, Vitalii I. & Bukejs, Andris, 2017, First fossil representatives of Pharaxonothinae Crowson (Coleoptera: Erotylidae): indirect evidence for cycads existence in Baltic amber forest, Zootaxa 4337 (3), pp. 413-422 : 418-419

Pharaxonothinae gen. indet.

( Figs 10–11 )

Material examined. Specimen No 578-1 [ CCHH], adult, sex unknown; Baltic amber, Yantarny , Kaliningrad region, Russia. Almost complete beetle (left metatarsomeres 2–5 lost) embedded in medium-sized, elongate, transparent, orange amber piece with approximate dimensions 35 × 14 × 6 mm. Body length of beetle is 3.3 mm. Syninclusions are represented by one fragment of Nematocera ( Chironomidae ?) and numerous small detritus particles. The amber piece was apparently subjected to thermal and high-pressure processing in an autoclave, based on what is evident from characters mentioned by Hoffeins (2012). The right side of elytra and pronotum is fragmented and destroyed, the right antenna is partially disintegrated and the head (especially clypeal and frontal area) is strongly deformed. The dark monochrome body colour of the specimen may also be a result of the discolouration during “improving” of the amber piece.

Note. The specimen belongs to an undescribed species of Pharaxonothinae , either to Pharaxonotha or to the morphologically close Cycadophila . It differs from C. mumia sp. nov. in the finely bordered elytral base, acute anterior pronotal angles, smaller body size, elytral punctation in rows laterally, and dark body colour. The main characters of the subfamily and Pharaxonotha (sensu lato) (e.g. glabrous body; elytra with non-impressed punctate rows and shortened scutellary striole; pro- and mesocoxal cavities open; narrow pronotal posterolateral sulci; abdomen without metacoxal lines; 11-segmented antennae with a 3-segmented antennal club not flattened; transverse scutellar shield; tarsal formula 5-5-5) are clearly visible on the specimen. The beetle is probably not conspecific with Cycadophila mumia sp. nov., but it cannot be named and formally described at present due to poor preservation.

Figures

FIGURES 10 – 11. Undescribed representative of Pharaxonothinae in Baltic amber, specimen No. 578 - 1 [CCHH]: 10 — habitus, dorso-lateral view; 11 — habitus, lateral view. Scale bar = 1 mm.