Revealing Palaeogene distribution of the Ptilodactylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera): the first <i>Ptilodactyla</i> Illiger, 1807 records from Rovno amber of Ukraine
Dmitry Telnov, Evgeny E. Perkovsky, Robin Kundrata, Kristaps Kairišs, Dmitry V. Vasilenko, Andris Bukejs
Abstract
The beetle family Ptilodactylidae is recorded for the first time from Rovno amber, Ukraine. Ptilodactyla odnosum Telnov, Perkovsky, Kundrata and Bukejs sp. nov. and a male of P. eocenica Kundrata, Bukejs and Blank, 2021 are described and illustrated using X-ray micro-computed tomography. Our discoveries of two species in Rovno amber together with recently published findings in Baltic amber and Bembridge Marls suggest that ptilodactylids were rather diverse in Eocene Europe. Identification key to Ptilodactylidae described from European Eocene ambers is provided, and relationships of the Baltic and Rovno amber coleopterofaunas are briefly discussed.