A New Species of the Family Smicripidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) from Rovno Amber

Abstract

Smicrips fudalai sp. nov. described herein from Late Eocene Rovno amber. It is the first palmetto beetle from Ukraine, whereas the extant Smicrips species are common in the tropics and subtropics of the New World. The new species differs from all extinct species in narrower head (the head with eyes not wider than the pronotum), slender legs, non-dilated tibia without spurs, and elytra that leave only the pygidium exposed. This is the third Eocene European palmetto beetle species, but no fossil smicripids remain to be unknown from Dominican and Mexican amber or other New World fossil localities yet (extant species from Mexico and Hispaniola are known). The Early Cenozoic Smicripidae of the New World were perhaps related not to the macrothermal communities, but to the upper microthermal to lower mesotermal communities. The tarsal formula 5–5–5 is characteristic of both Eocene and Cretaceous representatives of the family.