Electraesalopsis beuteli Bai, Zhang & Qiu, 2017

Qiu, Tengfei, Lu, Yuanyuan, Zhang, Weiwei, Wang, Shuo, Yang, Yuxia & Bai, Ming, 2017, Electraesalopsis beuteli gen. & sp. nov., the first lucanid beetle from the Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea), Zoological Systematics 42 (3), pp. 390-394 : 391

Electraesalopsis beuteli Bai, Zhang & Qiu , sp. nov. ( Figs 1–5 )

Holotype. Sex unknown (see discussion for details), a nearly complete specimen, registration No. BU-001838, with most appendages still attached except metatarsus and antenna on the left side. The piece of amber containing the specimen was ground and polished to 20.0×18.0× 5.2 mm (1.18 g in weight).

Etymology. This species is named in honor of Prof. Rolf G. Beutel ( FSU Jena University, Germany) in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to research on insects.

Description. Sex unknown, Body small, oval, slightly flattened to moderately convex, body length 5.6 mm (including mandibles and apex of fifth ventrites), entirely red brown. Head transversely, subquadrate, width 1.6 mm at maximum, broadest at eyes; with anterior margin emarginated; anterior angles of clypeus produced forward rounded, clypeus not defined posteriorly. Dorsal surface broadly punctured. Eyes large, without canthus. Mandibles extremely developed, longer than frons, triangular, with sharp apical tooth and smaller tooth on middle of the inside edge. Surface with long hair, more densely at the outer edge. Antenna length 1 mm, with 10 antennomeres, weakly geniculate between scape and antennomere 2; scape long, latter part spheroidal expand; antennomere 2 subconical and nearly as long as wide; antennomere 3–7 short; club with 3-segmented, formed by antennomeres 8–10, entirely tomentose, weakly lamellate in shape, with antennomeres 8 and 9 transverse but antennomere 10 apparently longer. Pronotum transverse, 1.6 times wider than long, obviously wider than head, and widest near the middle; anterior margin slightly concave, which carina in the middle, posterior margin nearly straight, lateral margin roundly curved and slightly serrate, anterior and posterior angles obtuse; dorsal surface densely punctured. Scutellum subtriangle, slightly longer than width, surface punctured. Elytron length 3 mm, width 2.5 mm, about 1.2 times as long as width; surface with evenly and densely punctured, without striae. Abdomen: five ventrites. Legs: moderately long, all tibiae and tarsi densely setae; protibia expanding from base to middle, outer lateral margin with five clear denticles, denticles reduces in size from apex to end; inner lateral margin with a spur; protasus slightly longer than protibia; claws large and simple; mesocoxae narrowly separated; mesotibia with two inner distal spurs, a short spur on ventral surface and a longer spur on dorsal surface; outer lateral margin with a denticle; first mesotarsomere longer than the second one; metatibia with two inner distal spurs, a shorter one on ventral surface and a longer one on dorsal surface; apex projected inwards; outer lateral margin with a clear denticle near the end of 1/3.

Figures

Figures 1–4. Electraesalopsis beuteli Bai, Zhang & Qiu, gen. & sp. nov., Holotype, registration No. BU-001838. 1. Habitus photograph, dorsal view. 2. Line drawing, dorsal view. 3.Habitus photograph, ventral view. 4. Line drawing,ventral view. Scale bars= 1.0mm.

Figure 5. Electraesalopsis beuteli Bai, Zhang & Qiu, gen. & sp. nov., Holotype, registration No. BU-001838, complete view of the amber piece. Scale bars=5.0mm.