Chungkun Shih

Septiventeridae, a new and ancestral fossil family of Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation

Morphologically, Scarabaeoidea is one of the best-studied groups of beetles. However, the incomplete preservation of presently known fossils is a fundamental problem in the interpretation of extinct species of the superfamily. Wing venation has long been recognized as a valuable character system in taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses. However, to date hind wing features of scarab fossils have not been analysed using geometric morphometrics. A new genus and a new species, Septiventer quadridentatus gen. et sp. nov., is described and illustrated and assigned to a new scarabaeoid family Septiventeridae fam. nov., based on one well-preserved specimen from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China. The phylogenetic position of Septiventer is inferred based on 68 morphological characters using a cladistic approach. Additionally, based on a geometric morphometric analysis of the hind wing of Septiventer, the structural affinities of 161 scarabs and six outgroup species is analysed, using 261 wing landmarks. Septiventeridae is identified as the sister group of the remaining Scarabaeoidea, with Glaresidae and Trogidae as the next branches. Consequently, it is crucial for an understanding of the early diversification of the superfamily, and for the reconstruction of early evolutionary transformations in the group. Septiventeridae differs strongly from most ‘modern’ lineages in wing shape. However, the structural affinity of the hind wings of Septiventeridae, Glaresidae and Trogidae are robustly supported by the results from morphometrics. This fits well with the phylogenetic hypothesis based on the general character set and strongly suggests that this wing pattern is closest to the scarabaeoid groundplan. The morphological features suggest good flying abilities of Septiventer, that it might have been active during the daytime, processed soft food, and was less active in digging tunnels than extant, more specialized dung beetles. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B0076219-3F4C-4E3D-8054-7DA855E0D8A4

Two new Middle Jurassic species of orthophlebiids (Insecta: Mecoptera) from Inner Mongolia, China

QIAO, X., SHIH, C.K. & REN, D., December 2012. Two new Middle Jurassic species of orthophlebiids (Insecta: Mecoptera) from Inner Mongolia, China. Alcheringa 36, 467–472. ISSN 0311-5518. Two new species of the extinct family Orthophlebiidae, Orthophlebia nervulosa sp. nov. and Orthophlebia stigmosa sp. nov., are described and illustrated. These well-preserved specimens were collected from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation near Daohugou Village, Inner Mongolia, China. Morphological characters shown in these well-preserved specimens highlight the diversity of orthophlebiids during the Middle Jurassic and provide data for future phylogenetic studies of orthophlebiids.

Phylogenetic analyses with four new Cretaceous bristletails reveal inter‐relationships of Archaeognatha and Gondwana origin of Meinertellidae

Based on fifteen Archaeognatha (=Microcoryphia) specimens from Myanmar (Burmese) amber, including males, females and immatures, two new genera and four species, Cretaceomachilis longa sp.n., Unimeinertellus abundus gen. et sp.n., U. bellus sp.n. and Nullmeinertellus wenxuani gen. et sp.n., are described. Phylogenetic analyses of taxa in Archaeognatha were conducted using Maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference based on morphological characters and DNA sequence data. Our results confirm the phylogenetic position of the new genera, clarify the monophyly of Meinertellidae and indicate that the ‘paleo‐types’ excluding Ditrigoniophthalmus are nested within the Machilidae group, but suggest that the three subfamilies within Machilidae may be artificial. The diversity of meinertellids with derived characters found from the Cretaceous indicate that the divergence time of Machilidae and Meinertellidae is much earlier than the Cretaceous. We propose the possibility that Meinertellidae might have originated on Gondwana.

The first fossil Athyreini beetle (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae)

The first fossil Athyreini in the subfamily of Bolboceratinae from the family of Geotrupidae, †Amberathyreus beuteli Bai et Zhang gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a specimen from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber from northern Myanmar. Its external morphology (including 3D reconstruction of the head and pronotum) was analyzed and compared with all known genera of Athyreini. †Amberathyreus’ close relationship between Athyreini and Bolboceratini is supported. †Amberathyreus was likely active at night and lived in a lowland environment. The finding of †Amberathyreus greatly enrich our knowledge of Athyreini.

New schizophorid fossils from China and possible evolutionary scenarios for Jurassic archostematan beetles

The new genus Abrohadeocoleodes gen. nov. with four new species, A. eurycladus sp. nov., A. ooideus sp. nov., A. nii sp. nov. and A. patefactus sp. nov., and a new species, Menopraesagus oryziformis sp. nov., assigned to the extinct family Schizophoridae (Archostemata) are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of eastern Inner Mongolia, China. Nearly 20 extinct schizophorid genera have been discovered throughout the world. These fossil records are of some significance in piecing together the evolution of the suborders Adephaga and Archostemata. Members of the new genus Abrohadeocoleodes appear to have a prognathous head with fairly large mandibles, a narrow linear space between the antennal fossa, large metatrochanter, and long and thin legs, as in some terrestrial Adephaga. They might have been able to run fast and hunt small prey over the open ground of lakeshores similarly to the earliest adephagan beetles. Furthermore, Abrohadeocoleodes exhibits a mixture of characters of both Archostemata and Adephaga, suggesting that it may share synapomorphies with Mesozoic adephagan beetles. In addition, the length ratio of the last to the penultimate abdominal ventrites in Schizophoridae shows an increasing trend from the Early Triassic to the Late Jurassic, suggesting that the species with a lower length ratio might have lived in more ancient times. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EBC0CDA1-C076-471B-A40C-81F1A9A40B03

New Jurassic predatory cockroaches (Blattaria: Raphidiomimidae) from Daohugou, China and Karatau, Kazakhstan

Liang, J., Shih, C. & Ren, D., October 2017. New Jurassic predatory cockroaches (Blattaria: Raphidiomimidae) from Daohugou, China and Karatau, Kazakhstan. Alcheringa 42, 101–109. ISSN 0311-5518. Two new species and a new combination in a new genus of predatory cockroaches, Falcatusiblatta gracilis and F. qiandaohua from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, China and F. karatavica (Vishniakova) comb. nov. from the Upper Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Karatau, Kazakhstan are described within Raphidiomimidae. The new taxa are distinguished by the presence of a very long ovipositor (plesiomorphy) and elongate cerci with heteronomous articles and forewing markings with irregular patch-like shapes of light and dark patterns (autapomorphies). Junhui Liang [liangjh0602@126.com], Tianjin Natural History Museum, 31 Youyi Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300203, PR China; Chungkun Shih† [chungkun.shih@gmail.com], College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100048, PR China; Dong Ren [rendong@mail.cnu.edu.cn], College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100048, PR China. †Also affiliated with: Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA.