The first Paleogene record of Hyperisus Mulsant and Rey (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) with description of a new species and an attempt of biogeographic analysis of ptinid assemblage in Baltic amber

ABSTRACT

Based on an inclusion in Baltic amber, the first extinct species of the genus Hyperisus Mulsant and Rey, 1863 (Ptinidae: Ernobiinae: Xestobiini), namely H. carstengroehni sp. nov. is described. This new fossil Eocene species differs from extant European congeners in having the dorsal pubescence of two types; the lesser body size; the abdominal ventrite 5 punctate; the dorsal pubescence evenly dense; the antennal club longer than antennomeres 1–8 combined; and in the details of dorsal punctation. Provisional biogeographical affinities of the described Baltic amber Ptinidae (as of July 2023) are briefly analysed. All 20 extant genera known in Baltic amber (100% of analysed assemblage) still inhabit Holarctic of Recent. The ptinid assemblage of Baltic amber is almost twice closer in the composition of genera to the extant fauna of Palearctic or Nearctic than to other regions. Possible explanations are proposed for the abundance of death-watch beetles in Baltic amber.

KEYWORDS:

• Ernobiinae
• Xestobiini
• paleodiversity
• fossil resin
• inclusion
• Eocene

Acknowledgments

We are sincerely grateful to Mr. Carsten Gröhn (Glinde, Germany) for the loan of interesting material, to Messrs. Aleksej and Jonas Damzen (Vilnius, Lithuania) for photographic preparation and assistance during our amber research, and to Dr. Darren A. Pollock (Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, USA) for a native English speaker proofread of our manuscript. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and corrections to this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

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