Dominibrentus leptus, n. gen., n. sp. (Curculionoidea, Brentidae, Cyphagoginae, Dominibrentini, n. tribe), a straight-snouted weevil in Dominican amber

Abstract

A new tribe, genus and species of straight-snouted weevils (Dominibrentus leptus, n. gen., n. sp., Dominibrentini, n. tribe; Coleoptera: Brentidae; Cyphagoginae) has been described from Dominican amber. The new taxon is characterised by compressed, ventrolateral concavities on the prothorax and abdomen and lateral concavities on the metathorax for reception of the legs. This is the first representative of a straight-snouted weevil in amber.

Keywords:

• straight-snouted weevil
• Brentidae
• Curculionoidea
• Tertiary weevil
• Dominican amber

Acknowledgements

I thank Ron Cauble for loaning the specimen this description, Alex Brown for assistance, Henrique Ott for translating the paper by Soares, R.T. Thompson for assistance in determining the sex of the fossil and Roberta Poinar for comments on earlier drafts of this study.