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Title: New subfamily of ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Platypodidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese ambe

Author
item POINAR, GEORGE - Oregon State University
item Vega, Fernando
item LEGALOV, ANDREI - Russian Academy Of Sciences

Submitted to: Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/22/2018
Publication Date: 10/4/2018
Citation: Poinar, G., Vega, F.E., Legalov, A. 2018. New subfamily of ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Platypodidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese ambe. Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2018.1528446.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2018.1528446

Interpretive Summary: Ambrosia beetle is the common name for wood-boring beetles that cultivate fungi as their food source. We have described an ambrosia beetle preserved in Burmese amber, estimated to be 97–110 million years old. This is the first ambrosia beetle from Burmese amber and the oldest documented ambrosia beetle that demonstrates glandular sac mycangia containing yeast-like propagules and hyphal fragments. This information will be of use to entomologists, mycologists, and scientists interested in insect-fungal evolution.

Technical Abstract: An ambrosia beetle described as Palaeotylus femoralis gen. et sp. nov. belonging to a new subfamily (Palaeotylinae subfam. nov.: Coleoptera: Platypodidae) is described from Cretaceous Burmese amber. It differs from other subfamilies by the coarsely faceted eyes, 7-articled flagellum, loose 3-segmented antennal club, ventrite 3 shorter than ventrite 2 and unique structure of the protarsus. This is first described Platypodidae from Burmese amber and the oldest documented ambrosia beetle that demonstrates glandular sac mycangia containing yeast-like propagules and hyphal fragments.