Cretacetrocta, a new genus of barklice from the Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber

Abstract

Pachytroctidae is a diverse extant family of Troctomorpha, represented by few fossil taxa from the Cretaceous ambers of Myanmar and Lebanon, and a single species from the Eocene amber of France (Oise). Herein, we describe and illustrate a new monospecific genus Cretacetrocta libanella Hakim & Azar gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous Bqaatouta amber outcrop (Lebanon). The new taxon is tentatively assigned to Pachytroctidae, and the only hitherto record from Lebanese amber of the subfamily Tapinellinae. The new finding reveals potential unreliability of the character ‘nodulus’ as a key diagnostic characteristic of the family, at the very least among fossil representatives. On the other hand, sexual dimorphism, a common trait in modern species of the Pachytroctidae, remains unveiled among extinct taxa.