Abstract
A new fossil rove beetle, Coproporus electron Yamamoto, sp. nov., is described from Dominican amber (early Middle Miocene). This is the first fossil of the genus and also represents the first formal record of the subfamily from Dominican amber. Coproporus electron even stands for the first fossil tachyporine described from the Neotropical region. Our finding is congruent with the hypothesis that the ancient forests that produced Dominican amber were long-vanished tropical forests, as modern members of Coproporus are restricted primarily to wet tropical regions.
Kurzfassung
Ein neuer fossiler Kurzflügler, Coproporus electron Yamamoto, sp. nov., wird aus dem Dominikanischen Bernstein (frühes Mittel-Miozän) beschrieben. Dieser erste fossile Vertreter der Gattung stellt gleichzeitig auch die erste offizielle Entdeckung der Unterfamilie Tachyporinae aus Dominikanischem Bernstein dar. Coproporus electron sp. nov. steht desweiteren für die ersten fossilen Tachyporinae überhaupt, die aus der Neotropis beschrieben werden. Unsere Entdeckung deckt sich mit der Hypothese, dass die ehemaligen Wälder, die Dominikanischen Bernstein produzierten, vor langer Zeit verschwundene tropische Wälder waren, da moderne Vertreter von Coproporus vor allem auf feucht-tropische Regionen beschränkt sind.
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Acknowledgments
SY thanks Dr. Alfred F. Newton, Dr. Margaret K. Thayer, and Ms. Rebekah S. Baquiran (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) for allowing SY to examine the tachyporine specimens during his stay in FMNH. SY also would like to thank Drs. Toshiya Hirowatari and Menetoshi Maruyama (Kyushu University, Fukuoka) for reading and commenting on the early draft. Three reviewers, Drs. A. Newton, Stylianos Chatzimanolis (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga), and Mike Reich (Editor-in-Chief), are acknowledged for constructive and meaningful comments. This study was partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (14J02669) to SY from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan. This work is a contribution from the Entomological Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan (Ser. 7, No. 38).
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Yamamoto, S., Takahashi, Y. Coproporus electron sp. nov., the first tachyporine rove beetle in Dominican amber (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). PalZ 90, 629–635 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-016-0315-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-016-0315-7