A new species of Eocene soldier beetle, a Malthodes (Coleoptera: Cantharidae: Malthininae) in Baltic amber

ABSTRACT

A new species of soldier beetle (Cantharidae) from Eocene Baltic amber, Malthodes maierae sp. nov., is described and illustrated from a male specimen discovered in Russia. The new species differs from the hundreds of known extant and extinct species of Malthodes Kiesenwetter, 1852. The last abdominal segments, which are substantially modified on the male to hold the female during mating, differ considerably in Malthodes species and are very important diagnostic elements for this genus. The exact evolutionary forces driving these manifold modifications are unknown, but they are likely related to sexual selection, mate recognition, antagonistic coevolution, or varying habitats, or a combination of two or more of these factors.

The Zoobank LSID for this is: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DC13FC31-BD71-4C3D-9536-B70AF65FB699

KEYWORDS:

• Soldier beetle
• palaeoentomology
• taxonomy
• amber inclusion
• Eocene

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Marius Veta (Palanga, Lithuania) for providing exceptional photographs of the specimen. We also are indebted to Alessio Morelli (Pianella, Pescara, Italy) for the excellent drawing of the specimen’s last body segments. Finally, we are very grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful recommendations to improve our manuscript.

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