Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #378602
Research Project: Develop Pest Management Technologies and Strategies to Control the Coffee Berry Borer

Location: Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory

Title: A new genus of cylindrical bark beetle (Coleoptera: Zopheridae: Colydiinae) in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

Author
item POINAR, GEORGE - Oregon State University
item Vega, Fernando

Submitted to: Biosis: Biological Systems
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/11/2020
Publication Date: 12/15/2020
Citation: Poinar, G., Vega, F.E. 2020. A new genus of cylindrical bark beetle (Coleoptera: Zopheridae: Colydiinae) in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Biosis: Biological Systems. 1:134–140.

Interpretive Summary: A new cylindrical bark beetle genus and species is described from Burmese amber. The fossil is considered to have been a possible predator that lived among moss, lichens and fungi either attached to trees trunks or on the forest floor. The morphological features of the fossil add to the diversity of beetles and will be of interest to entomologists.

Technical Abstract: A bizarre cylindrical bark beetle from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber is described as new genus and species in the subfamily Colydiinae of the family Zopheridae. The male beetle is characterized by elongate protuberances covering its entire dorsal surface, a tarsal formula of 4-4-4 and a ten-segmented antennae with the terminal segmented expanded into a small club. The fossil is considered to have been a possible predator that lived among moss, lichens and fungi either attached to trees trunks or on the forest floor. A close association with fungi is indicated by strands of conidia attached to the cuticle of the beetle.