Ripidinelia burmiticola gen. et sp. nov. from Cretaceous amber-the first species of Ripidiinae with tibial spurs (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae)
Abstract
The parasitic wedge-shaped beetle Ripidinelia burmiticola gen. et sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae: Ripidiinae) is described and illustrated based on a single male inclusion preserved in a mid-Cretaceous amber of Myanmar. The species shows an unique combination of characters, i.e., three-segmented maxillary palpi known, for example, in another Cretaceous genus Protoripidius Cai, Yin et Huang, 2017 and some extant Australian genera, antennae comprised 11 antennomeres with 8 distal flagellomeres bearing long rami, known for example in the extant genus Ripidius Thunberg, 1806, but unique among Cretaceous Ripidiinae, and each tibia with one tibial spur.
Additional seven males including one double and one triple syninclusions from the same deposit are ascribed to the same genus. The presence of tibial spurs in Ripidinelia gen. nov. requires the redefinition of the subfamily Ripidiinae, because tibial spurs are absent in all so far known species of the subfamily.