New Taxa of Soft-Winged Flower Beetles (Coleoptera, Malachiidae)in Baltic Amber
A new tribe, two new genera and two new species of soft-winged flower beetles (Coleoptera, Malachiidae) are described from Baltic Late Eocene amber. The genus Premalachius gen. nov. with a species Premalachius obscurus sp. nov., belongs to the tribe Malachiini due to antennae being located near the clypeus which is well developed also is the labrum. In the tribe a new species is close to species of the genus Chionotopus Abeille de Perrin, 1881. Because of absence of specific male structures due the specimen in inclusion is female, the only character indicating similarity between a new species and a genus mentioned above is a claw, thin sharp and lacking transparent lamellae at base. A new species can be differentiate from Chionotopus by the characters as follows: apical palpomere not fusiform, apical antennomeres not serrate, second antennomere not shorter than the 3rd, of the same shape, enlarged triangular, humeri not rounded but elongate and protruding, lacking spots, elytra not oval, subparallel, pronotum not depressed posteriorly, legs strong. At about 2.5 mm in length the new species is much smaller than known species of Chionotopus which average 4.0–4.5 mm. The genus Palpattalusinus gen. nov. with type species P. transitivus sp. nov. is closely related to the genus Palpattalus Tshernyshev, 2016 and differs in elongate parallel body, elongate and narrowed to base pronotum, pygidium elongate, slightly curved ventrally and dome-shaped, specific palpae which look like a whole stout oval palpomere narrowed at the tip in a thin tube and composed by three compactly joined palpomeres; anterior tarsi with a distinct black comb above the second palpomere, antennae long, with the second antennomere small and round, 3rd and 4th triangular-shaped, remaining antennomeres slightly serrate, apical antennomere strongly elongate and oval. The genus Palpattalusinus gen.nov. shares two character combinations with Palpattalus Tschenyshev, 2016, namely enlarged palpae and modified pygidium. Thus, a new Tribe, Palpattalini trib.nov. with type genus Palpattalus Tshernyshev is described. Recent representatives of the new tribe are unknown. Females of Palpattalus eocenicus Tshernyshev, 2016 have been found in four different Baltic amber inclusions deposited in different collections. The female is briefly described and significant presence of species of the genus in Eocene amber is discussed.