Palaeoboganium gen. nov. from the Middle Jurassic of China (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Boganiidae): the first cycad pollinators?

Abstract

Palaeoboganium jurassicum gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou formation in northern China. Palaeoboganium jurassicum is the first fossil representative of the enigmatic family Boganiidae, currently known from Gondwanan localities in South Africa, Australia and New Caledonia. Based on a phylogenetic analysis of adult external characters, Palaeoboganium is recovered as the sister group of Paracucujus Sen Gupta & Crowson and Metacucujus Endrödy-Younga & Crowson (Paracucujinae), whose adults pollinate cycads in Australia and South Africa. Based on phylogenetic evidence this taxon is suggested to be a potential pollinator of Jurassic cycads.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7EDB8295-5EF3-40ED-9A84-479AD23611AF

Keywords:

• Boganiidae
• beetles
• phylogeny
• geographical distribution
• China
• Jiulongshan Formation
• Daohugou
• cycad pollination

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge CSIRO, Australia and Sun Yat-sen University, China for support of research. This study is funded by the following grants awarded to HP: key project of Science-technology basic condition platform from The Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (grant number 2005DKA21402), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, grant number 2013CB127600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31372243). DR: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31672323 and 41699103) and the program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT13081). ZHL: China Scholarship Council (CSC). We are very grateful to Dr Rolf Oberprieler (ANIC) for critical reading and greatly improving the draft of this paper, an anonymous reviewer for their criticism, and Cate Lemann (ANIC) for help with digital photography.

Additional information

Funding

This study is funded by the following grants awarded to HP: key project of Science-technology basic condition platform from The Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (grant number 2005DKA21402), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, grant number 2013CB127600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31372243). DR: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31672323 and 41699103) and the program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT13081). ZHL: China Scholarship Council (CSC). We are very grateful to Dr Rolf Oberprieler (ANIC) for critical reading and greatly improving the draft of this paper, an anonymous reviewer for their criticism, and Cate Lemann (ANIC) for help with digital photography.