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Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS
Vol. 316, No. 1, 2012, рр. 83–88
УДК 595.765
NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS TRIXAGUS KUGELANN, 1794 (COLEOPTERA:
THROSCIDAE) FROM THE LOWERMOST EOCENE AMBER OF OISE (FRANCE)
A.V. Kovalev1, A.G. Kirejtshuk1, 2* and A. Nel2
1Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya emb., 1, 199034 St. Petersbug, Russia;
e-mails: fornax13@list.ru, kirejtshuk@gmail.com, agk@zin.ru
2CNRS UMR 7205, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, Entomologie, 45, rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France;
e-mails: kirejtshuk@gmail.com, agk@zin.ru, anel@mnhn.fr
ABSTRACT
Trixagus majusculus sp. nov., the third fossil representative of the genus of the elaterioid family Throscidae:
Throscinae is described from the Lowermost Eocene amber of Oise (France). The new species is compared with
both extinct and extant species of the genus. “Throscus (?)” peritulus Cockerell, 1925 is excluded from the family
Throscidae and a review of the available fossil representatives of this family is given.
Key words: amber, Coleoptera, Insecta, France, Lowermost Eocene, new species, Throscidae, Trixagus
НОВЫЙ ВИД РОДА TRIXAGUS KUGELANN, 1794 (COLEOPTERA:THROSCIDAE)
ИЗ НИЖНЕЭОЦЕНОВОГО ЯНТАРЯ УАЗЕ (ФРАНЦИЯ)
А.В. Ковалев1, А.Г. Кирейчук1, 2* и А. Нель2
1Зоолологический институт Российской академии наук, Университетская наб., 1, 199034 Санкт-Петербург, Россия;
e-mail: fornax13@list.ru, kirejtshuk@gmail.com, agk@zin.ru
2CNRS UMR 7205, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, Entomologie, 45, rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France;
e-mails: kirejtshuk@gmail.com, agk@zin.ru, anel@mnhn.fr
РЕЗЮМЕ
Из нижнеэоценового янтаря Уазе (Франция) описан Trixagus majusculus sp. nov., третий представитель рода
элатероидного семейства Throscidae: Throscinae. Новый вид сравнивается как с вымершими, так и современ-
ными видами. “Throscus (?)” peritulus Cockerell, 1925 выведен из состава семейства Throscidae и дан обзор
имеющихся ископаемых представителей этого семейства.
Key words: янтарь, Coleoptera, Insecta, Франция, нижний эоцен, новый вид, Throscidae, Trixagus
INTRODUCTION
The family Throscidae Laporte, 1840 represents
a comparably not numerous group in both recent
and previous faunas. The most fossils of this family
remain undescribed. Nevertheless, they are known
from the Miocene Dominican amber, Eocene Baltic,
Bitterfeld and Fushun amber, Upper Cretaceous
Sakhalin amber, Lower Cretaceous Lebanese and
Burmese amber, and also from compression deposits
of Khetana River (Lower Cretaceous), London Clay
(Upper Paleocene-Lower Eocene), Messel (Middle
*Corresponding author / Автор-корреспондент
Kovalev et al.
84
Eocene), Florissant (Uppermost Eocene-Lowermost
Oligocene), and Amagu River (Miocene). There are
not so many descriptions published which make pos-
sible to discuss the phylogeny. These are Palaeothros-
cus sosnovski Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1962 and Troscites
tschitscherini Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1962 from Baltic
amber, although later the first was transferred by
Cobos (1963) to genus Trixagus Kugelann, 1794
and second to Aulonothroscus Horn, 1890; Trixagus
peritulus Cockerell, 1925 from Amagu River; Mego-
cephalites eocenicus Hong, 2001 from Fushun amber;
Pactopus americanus Wickham, 1914 from Florissant
(Colorado, USA); P. avitus Britton, 1960 from Lon-
don Clay (United Kingdom); and the rest from Baltic
amber: P. fasolti Muona, 1993 and P. fafneri Muona,
1993; Jaira bella Muona, 1993; Potergus frochi Mu-
ona, 1993 and P. logei Muona, 1993. Most mentions
on fossil Throscidae are supplied only by indication
of family or at most genus summarized in the cata-
logue by Ponomarenko and Kirejtshuk (2011).
This paper presents the eighth contribution to the
knowledge on fauna of Coleoptera from the Lower-
most Eocene French amber collected in Oise falls of
Paris Basin (Batelka et al. 2006; Bilý and Kirejtschuk
2007; Kirejtshuk and Nel 2008, 2009; Kirejtshuk et
al. 2010a, 2010b, 2010c; Moseyko et al. 2010).
Note. Throscus (?) peritulus Cockerell, 1925,
which according to the current taxonomic interpre-
tation should be considered with the generic name
Trixagus, was described after the print of beetle
dorsum from the outcrop in Terneysky District
(Primorsky Kray, Russian Far East) from Khutsyn-
skaya Formation. This specimen is deposited in the
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in
Washington. The pronotum as figured the picture in
the original paper shows scarcely projecting posterior
angles and, therefore, the specimen certainly cannot
belong to the family Throscidae and its attribution to
any other elateroid family is also rather questionable.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The holotype of the species under consideration
as many specimens recovered among inclusions from
the Lowermost Eocene French amber is deposited in
the Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Muséum National
d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Usual optic equipment
was used for their study, in particular the stereomi-
croscope Olympus SCX9 and inverted microscope
Olympus CK 40 in the Paris museum, and also the
stereomicroscope microscope Leica MZ 16.0 in the
Zoological Institute RAS (Saint Petersburg).
Type strata. Lowermost Eocene, in amber, circa –
53 Myr, Sparnacian, level MP7 of the mammal fauna
of Dormaal (Nel et al. 1999).
Type locality. Farm Le Quesnoy, Chevrière, re-
gion of Creil, Oise department (north of France).
SYSTEMATICS
Family Throscidae Laporte de Castelnau, 1840
Subfamily Throscinae Laporte de Castelnau, 1840
Genus Trixagus Kugelann, 1794
Type species: Dermestes adstrictor Herbst, 1794
(= Elater dermestoides Linnaeus, 1767).
Trixagus majusculus sp. nov.
(Figs 1–4)
Holotype. MNHN.F.A46040 (PA 1673), probable
female, completely preserved, but the entire under-
side is covered with thinner or thicker milky cover
intermixed with short hairs and hardly visible; also
with vertical crevices along left and right lateral sides
of dorsum. The holotype is included in a large irregu-
lar amber piece (length 27, width 20, height 5 mm),
not completely polished; at both sides of the beetle
there are located four specimens of Brachycera and
many gas bubbles of different size and many pieces
of white and dark organic matter of different size
(gas bubbles and pieces of organic matter irregularly
spread through the amber piece examined).
Etymology. The epithet of the new species means
‘rather large’, referred to the body size of the new spe-
cies which is largest among the congeners.
Diagnosis. The new species differs from Pal-
aeothroscus sosnovskyi Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1962
described from Baltic amber (transferred by Cobos
(1963) to Trixagus) in the subparallel lateral borders
of the prosternal plate, distinctly bisinuate base of
pronotum and larger body size, which is wider and
more tapered posteriorly, and apparently in the finer
and sparser dorsal puncturation.
Also the new species differs from all recent species
of Trixagus in the larger body and the combination of
the following features: deeply incised eyes, weakly
convex frons without carinae and large, almost flat
prosternal plate and very coarse and sparse punctura-
New species of the genus Trixagus from amber of Oise 85
tion of elytra. At the same time the new species have
as large body as some recent members of the Aulo-
nothroscus which are also characterized by more or
less incised eyes and well expressed grooves on meta-
ventrite to receive the mesotarsi. At the current study
the new species should be put in the genus Trixagus
because it does not demonstrate trace of tarsal grooves
on metaventrite. The combination of incised eyes and
convex frons without elongate keels is rather charac-
teristic of Trixagus but not Aulonothroscus, although
some members of the latter have not these keels (for
instance Afrotropical A. subtilis Cobos, 1960; A. allu-
audi Cobos; 1962 and A. stanleyi Cobos, 1962 as well
as Australian A. adonis Cobos, 1963).
The new species is similar to the recent Western
Palaearctic T. dermestoides (Linnaeus, 1767) in the
relatively wide and almost flat prosternal plate, mod-
erately short and dense pubescence, not masking the
sculpture of integument, wide frons and larger body,
but differs from the latter in the excision of anterior
edge of eyes expanded the middle of eye diameter,
larger body and lack of frontal carinae. Also this new
species can be compared with the Palaearctic mem-
bers of species-group related to T. carinifrons Bonvou-
Figs. 1–2. Trixagus majusculus sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Throscidae), holotype: 1 – body, dorsal; 2 – idem, ventral. Length – 3.55 mm.
Kovalev et al.
86
loir, 1859, which are similar to the new species in the
larger body, character of pubescence and deeply ex-
cised eyes, but T. majusculus sp. nov. differs from them
in the wide frons without any traces of frontal carinae,
smaller eyes, wider and almost flat median prosternal
plate and larger body. Besides, the new species can be
compared with T. gautheri Cobos, 1972 from Algeria
with the comparatively robust, moderately convex
and large body, deeply excised eyes and lack of frontal
keels, but differs from the latter in the almost flat and
parallel-sided prosternal plate, markedly larger body
and apparently in the sparser dorsal pubescence.
Description. Length 3.55, width 1.55 mm. Body
elongate-oval, more narrowing posteriorly, about 2.3
times as long as wide, moderately convex both dor-
sally and ventrally; dark brown to blackish, dorsum
Figs. 3–4. Trixagus majusculus sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Throscidae), holotype: 3 – body, dorsal; 4 – idem, ventral. Scale bar – 0.5 mm.
New species of the genus Trixagus from amber of Oise 87
with a weak shine. Dorsum withy subuniform, mod-
erately long, moderately dense, moderately conspicu-
ous and suberect hairs 4–5 times as long as distance
between their insertions; underside with somewhat
finer, shorter and sparser hairs.
Head with puncturation formed by moderately
coarse and sparse punctures and interspaces between
them with extremely fine and dense punctures. Pro-
notum with double puncturation, formed by coarse
and sparse punctures interspersed extremely fine and
dense punctures. Elytra with nine fine and shallow
striae at bottom of which there are located rows of
fine and shallow, sparse punctures; intervals between
them almost flat, with moderately coarse and very
sparse punctures, somewhat finer than on the prono-
tum, and interspaces between them with extremely
fine and dense punctures.
Head comparatively large; frons rather convex
and without any trace of frontal carinae, slightly
wider than its height. Eye medium-sized, slightly
convex, excision of their anterior edge as extended as
somewhat more than three-quarters of eye diameter.
Labrum transverse, about twice as wide as long, trap-
ezoidal, with widely rounded lateral angles. Antennae
relatively short and thin; antennomere 1 large, slight-
ly longer than its wide; antennomere 2 large, almost
as wide as previous and about as long as wide; anten-
nomeres 3–8 small (antennomeres 3–5 elongate, an-
tennomeres 6–8 almost quadrate; 3-segmented club
relatively small, elongate-oval; antennomere 9 arcu-
ately widening to emarginated apex, antennomere 10
nearly transversely quadrangular, antennomere 11
strongly transverse and rounded at apex.
Pronotum wide and short, 1.85 times as wide as
long along the middle, evenly arcuately widening
to posterior angles. Base of pronotum bisinuate;
basal impressions nearly indistinct; median part
of posterior edge short projecting, nearly straight
at apex. Posterior angles far projecting and much
longer than projecting median part of posterior
edge. Lateral carinae long, reaching anterior third
of pronotum. Scutellum subpentagonal with widely
rounded sides and subacute apex, slightly wider than
long. Elytra elongate, widest behind base, about 1.75
times as long as wide combined (at anterior fourth),
gradually narrowing to apices which are forming a
conjoining arc.
Prosternal plate and process flat, moderately short
and wide, subparallel-sided; with lateral borders; sub-
angular at the apex. Metaventrite of usual structure,
relatively convex. Metacoxal plates of usual shape.
Abdomen with shallow indistinct depressions for
receipt of metatarsi on ventrites 1–3. Anal ventrite
rounded at apex.
Legs of same structure (as in recent congeners).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the company Lafarge-Granulat
for the help with the sampling of the fossil and the fam-
ily Langlois-Meurinne for the authorization of working
in their property. A.G. Kirejtshuk has a pleasant duty to
express his recognition to the Museum national d’Histoire
naturelle provided him a possibility to work in this muse-
um in 2006–2011 as visiting professor. This study was also
supported by the grants of Russian Foundation of Basic
Research N 09-04-00789-а, Programme of the Presidium of
the Russian Academy of Sciences “Origin and Evolution of
Biosphere” and Ministry of Education and Science of the
Russian Federation.
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Submitted January 30, 2012, accepted 27 February, 2012.
