The earliest occurrence and remarkable stasis of the family Bostrichidae (Coleoptera: Polyphaga) in Cretaceous Charentes amber

David Peris (1, 1) , Xavier Delclos (1, 1) , Carmen Soriano (2) , Vincent Perrichot (3)

1 UB - Universitat de Barcelona
2 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
3 OSUR - Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes

A new fossil species of auger beetle (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae), preserved in mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) amber from south-western France, is described as Stephanopachys vetus Peris, Delclos et Perrichot sp. n. The species is the earliest fossil bostrichid discovered to date, but is remarkably similar to Recent species of the genus Stephanopachys, supporting long morphological conservation in wood boring beetles. The specimen is fossilized in fully opaque amber and was imaged in 3D using propagation phase-contrast X-ray synchrotron microtomography. Based on the ecology of extant related species habits, it is suggested that S. vetus sp. n. was a primary succession pioneer following wildfires in mid-Cretaceous forests. The fossil record of the family is reviewed

Mots clés: Beetle; Charente-Maritime; France; new species; palaeoenvironment; synchrotron imaging

Domaines: Sciences de la Terre

David Peris, Xavier Delclos, Carmen Soriano, Vincent Perrichot. The earliest occurrence and remarkable stasis of the family Bostrichidae (Coleoptera: Polyphaga) in Cretaceous Charentes amber. Palaeontologia Electronica, 2014, 17 (1), 8 p. ⟨hal-01572934⟩