Diversity of Eocene Ripiphoridae with descriptions of the first species of Pelecotominae and larva of Ripidiinae (Coleoptera)

Abstract

Abstract The Eocene records of the beetle family Ripiphoridae are evaluated and summarized. A new species of Pelecotominae belonging to the genus Clinops, C. svachaisp. nov. from Baltic amber, is described and figured. The female holotype of C. svachai is the first Palaeogene member of this subfamily to be identified. In addition, a male of a different unidentified genus of Pelecotominae, preserved as an inclusion in Baltic amber, is documented. The first Palaeogene primary larva of Ripiphoridae is described from Sakhalin amber and is compared with all other primary larvae of this family. The larva is attributed to Ripidius (Ripidiinae) and bears some unique characters absent in larvae of this extant genus. A putative record of Ripiphorus (Ripiphorinae) in the Berendt collection is identified as a member of Ripidius. Distribution of Eocene species are compared with those of their closest extant relatives and mapped. Based on the fossil record and the distribution of extant South African species of Clinops, this genus is tentatively thought to be an example of an Eocene relict, while the extant pelecotomine genus Scotoscopus from the East Mediterranean is considered to be an Oligocene–Miocene relict as its distribution corresponds with the geological history of the Aegais landmass.