A New Genus and Species of Lymexylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) from Mid-Cretaceous Amber of Northern Myanmar

Abstract

The ship-timber beetle Cretoquadratus engeli gen. et sp.n. has been described and classified based on a moderately well-preserved fossil specimen found inside mid-Cretaceous amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The newly created taxon is placed within Atractocerinae, and the new species can be easily distinguished from all other extinct and recent members of the subfamily due to the presence of media veins and branches, including M1, M₂, M₃, and M₄. Cretoquadratus engeli is the oldest known representative of (Atractocerinae) Lymexylidae, with the exception of Cratoatractocerus grimaldii Wolf-Schwenninger, 2011, which was deposited in the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. The palaeobiomigratory significancehas been briefly discussed.