New jewel beetles (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) from Cretaceous deposits of Russia

ISSN 0031�0301, Paleontological Journal, 2013, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 303–306. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2013.Original Russian Text © A.V. Alexeev, 2013, published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 2013, No. 3, pp. 66–68.

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INTRODUCTION

In this study jewel beetles are described from volca�nogenic deposits of Snezhnyi Beds, Emanra Forma�tion (outcrop 2, bed 19; Middle Albian) of Khetanalocality in the Ulya River basin, Okhotsk District,Khabarovsk Region (for more details on the locality,see Gromov et al., 1993). Jewel beetles are representedin Khetana by a new genus comprising two species:Cretalbiana sukatshevae gen. et sp. nov. and C. majorsp. nov. Impressions of these species, initially ratherwell preserved (except for the middle of the mesoven�trite), were preliminarily described a few years ago.Since then, the rock, saturated with easily oxidizingminerals, became damaged, and many morphologicaldetails of the beetles became indiscernible. Therefore,not all details drawn and described are visible in therecent photographs reproduced in Pl. 12.

SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY

Family Buprestidae Leach, 1815

Subfamily Parathyreinae Alexeev, 1993

Genus Cretalbiana Alexeev, gen. nov.

E t y m o l o g y. From the Cretaceous period andAlbian age.

Ty p e s p e c i e s. Cretalbiana sukatshevae sp. nov.D i a g n o s i s. Broadly oval beetles, approximately

twice as long as wide. Eyes oval, large. Frons betweeneyes weakly evenly convex, almost straightly weaklydilated anteriad. Pronotum 1.5 times as wide as longmedially, with sides straight from base almost to ante�rior margin. Scutellum triangular, with weakly arcu�ately concave sides. Elytra very wide, wider than

pronotum, parallel�sided medially, evenly roundedposteriorly, with apices slightly rounded. Number oflongitudinal grooves 10. Metacoxal plates shortenedlaterally by a factor of 1.5. Legs with femora very wide.

S p e c i e s c o m p o s i t i o n. Two species.

C o m p a r i s o n. The new genus is close to thegenus Brevista Alexeev, 1995 (Alexeev, 1995) from the?Aptian of Mongolia (Bon Tsagan locality) and differsfrom it in the convex frons (flattened in Brevista),wider pronotum of different shape (in Brevista, thepronotum is slightly dilated anteriad and has arcuatelyconvex lateral margins), and in elytron with lateralmargin not arcuately concave at the end of its firstquarter.

Cretalbiana sukatshevae Alexeev, sp. nov.

Plate 12, fig. 1

E t y m o l o g y. In honor of the paleoentomologistI.D. Sukacheva.

H o l o t y p e. PIN, no. 3800/1187, part and coun�terpart of rather small, broadly oval beetle withoutantennae, mesocoxae, most details of legs and somedetails of prosternum, mesoventrite, and metaventrite;Khabarovsk Region, Khetana; Albian.

D e s c r i p t i o n (Fig. 1). The eye is large, shortoval, with extremely weakly convex internal margin.The frons between the eyes is weakly dilated anteriad.The distance between the eyes on the vertex is twice asgreat as the width of the eye. The lateral margins of thepronotum from the hind margins forward are straight,parallel almost to the anterior margin. The elytra are3.0 times as long as wide, rather steeply narrowed

New Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) from Cretaceous Deposits of Russia

A. V. AlexeevBorissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya ul. 123, Moscow, 117997 Russia

e�mail: lab@palaeoentomolog.ruReceived April 12, 2012

Abstract—A new genus and two new species of jewel beetles, Cretalbiana sukatshevae gen. et sp. nov. andC. major sp. nov., are described from the Middle Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Khetana, Khabarovsk Region,Russia.

Keywords: Coleoptera, Buprestidae, Cretalbiana, new taxa, fossil insects, Lower Cretaceous, Khabarovskregion

DOI: 10.1134/S0031030113030027

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ALEXEEV

towards the base, parallel�sided in the anterior twothirds, with lateral margins almost straight to posteriorthird, where the elytra are evenly narrowed to therather narrowly rounded apices. Abdominal sternite 1is 2.2 times as long as sternite 2; sternite 2 is 1.3 timesas long as sternite 3; sternite 4 is as long as sternite 3;apical sternite rounded triangular, 1.7 times as long assternite 4 and 0.56 times as long as sternite 1.

M e a s u r e m e n t s, mm. Body length, 13.2; bodywidth, 7.2; length of elytron, 9.1; width of elytron, 3.2.

M a t e r i a l. Holotype.

Cretalbiana major Alexeev, sp. nov.

Plate 12, fig. 2

E t y m o l o g y. From the Latin major (bigger).

H o l o t y p e. PIN, no.3800/1186, part and coun�terpart of broadly oval medium�sized beetle, withoutantennae, part of lateral surface of left elytron, forelegs

and hindlegs, mesocoxae, and impressions of sutureson metaventrite; Khetana, Albian.

D e s c r i p t i o n (Fig. 2). The distance betweenthe eyes on the vertex is 3.8 times as great as the widthof the eye. The frons is wide, rather strongly convexbetween the eyes along the longitudinal axis andweakly convex along the transverse axis, slightlydilated anteriad. The pronotum is narrowed anteriad,with straight sides in the posterior two thirds, slightlyroundedly narrowed anteriad. The elytron is verywide, 2.5 times as long as its maximum width, nar�rowed posteriad, with the lateral margin very weaklyconvex until the distal half, then strongly narrowedtowards the not very broadly rounded apex. The pro�coxae are round; the distance between them is equal totheir diameter.

M e a s u r e m e n t s, mm. Body length, 21; bodywidth, 10.5; length of right elytron, 13.7; width of rightelytron, 5.3.

5 mm(a) (b)

Fig. 1. Cretalbiana sukatshevae sp. nov., holotype PIN, no. 3800/1187: (a) dorsal view, (b) ventral view.

E x p l a n a t i o n o f P l a t e 1 2

Fig. 1. Cretalbiana sukatshevae sp. nov., holotype PIN, no. 3800/1187: (a) positive impression, (b) negative impression.Fig. 2. Cretalbiana major sp. nov., holotype PIN, no. 3800/1186: (a) positive impression, (b) negative impression.

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NEW JEWEL BEETLES (COLEOPTERA, BUPRESTIDAE) 305

Plate 12

5 mm5 mm

5 mm 5 mm

1a1b

2a

2b

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ALEXEEV

C o m p a r i s o n. The new species differs fromC. sukatshevae in the shape of the pronotum, nar�rowed anteriad, elytra wider and more strongly nar�rowed posteriad, and in the considerably larger size.

M a t e r i a l. Holotype.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to A.P. Rasnitsyn (PIN) forhis consultation and help in preparing the computerillustrations to this study.

REFERENCES

Alexeev, A.V., New Forms of Metallic Wood�Boring(Coleoptera, Buprestidae) from the Mesozoic of Russia, Kaza�khstan, and Mongolia, Paleontol. Zh., 1995, no. 4, pp. 75–85.Gromov, B.B., Dmitriev, B.Yu., Zherikhin, V.V., Lebedev, E.L.,Ponomarenko, A.G., Rasnitzyn A.P., and Sukatsheva I.D.,Cretaceous Insect Faunas from the Ul’ya River Basin(Western Okhotsk Sea Region), in Mezozoiskie nasekomye iostrakody Azii (Mesozoic Insects and Ostracods from Asia),Tr. Paleontol. Inst. Ross. Akad. Nauk, vol. 252, Ponomar�enko, A.G., Ed., Moscow: Nauka, 1993, pp. 1–6.

Translated by P. Petrov

5 mm 5 mm(a) (b)

Fig. 2. Cretalbiana major sp. nov., holotype PIN, no. 3800/1186: (a) dorsal view, (b) ventral view.