A new extinct species of Europs Wollaston (Coleoptera: Monotomidae) from Eocene Baltic amber and additions to the diagnosis of E. insterburgensis Alekseev, 2014

ABSTRACT

A new extinct species of the genus Europs Wollaston, 1854, E. groehni sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on one well-preserved inclusion in Baltic amber. This second Palaeogene species of the genus can be distinguished by the shape of antennomere 9; by the rectangular, rounded temples; by the presence of dorsal microreticulation; and by the details of the pronotal punctation. The holotype of Europs insterburgensis Alekseev, 2014 (Baltic amber) is re-examined, and its diagnosis is corrected. A key to described Cenozoic species of Monotomidae is provided. The second described species of Europs in Baltic amber reveals at least some diversity of the genus in the Western Palaearctic during the Eocene, provides more evidence that humid and warm climatic conditions prevailed while the ‘amber forest’ grew in Eocene Europe and indicates the distribution range of the genus Europs contracted in the Western Palaearctic due to subsequent climate changes.

KEYWORDS:

• Nitiduloidea
• Monotominae
• Europini
• Cenozoic
• fossil resin
• inclusion

Acknowledgments

We are sincerely grateful to Carsten Gröhn (Glinde, Germany) for the loan of interesting material and to Messrs. Aleksej and Jonas Damzen (Vilnius, Lithuania) for photographic preparation and assistance during our amber research. We also thank Maximilian G. Pankowski (Rockville, Maryland, USA) for proofreading our manuscript as a native English speaker. Finally, we are very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and efforts to improve our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).