Abstract
Abstract. Based on a well-preserved specimen from Eocene Baltic amber, a new weevil – Baltacalles triumurbium gen. et sp. nov. – is described and illustrated. The new fossil genus is similar to the extant Acalles Schoenherr, 1825 but differs from it in the denticulate femora, abdominal ventrites 1–2 combined about 2.8 times as long as ventrites 3–4 combined, distinct scutellum, narrow, subparallel metepisternum, not flattened rostrum, and narrow forehead. This is the first described representative of the Tylodina (Molytinae: Cryptorhynchini) described from Baltic amber. The data on the geographically and stratigraphically distinct local sources of Baltic amber in the Kaliningrad Region are provided; the main sampling localities are listed and photographed. The importance of the possible exact labeling of the material is emphasized.
Highlights
Weevils from Eocene Baltic amber are very diverse
The tibiae with large uncus and two groups of setae, straight posterior margins of ventrites 2–3, protibiae distally without mouth groove and row of dense erect setae, tarsomere 5 with claws not separated by dermal lobes, antennae inserted near middle of the rostrum, and mesepimeron not enlarged and invisible between bases of prosternum and elytra, suggest placement in the subfamily Molytinae. Placement of this new fossil genus in the tribe Cryptorhynchini is based on the prosternum with rostral channel reaching middle coxae and margined by carinae, its apex reaching mesoventrite and margined by a carina, postcoxal portion of the prosternum not bounded by carinae, eyes well developed, rostrum not separated by groove, mesotibiae without denticle in middle of exterior margin, scape shorter than funicle and not reaching eye, and metaventrite shorter than abdominal ventrite 1
The first records are from the early Eocene Oise amber (Legalov et al, 2019), the early Eocene of London Clay (Britton, 1960) and the early–middle Eocene of Green River (Scudder, 1876)
Summary
Weevils from Eocene Baltic amber are very diverse. The family Curculionidae is represented by subfamilies Erirhininae, Molytinae, Lixinae, Dryophthorinae, Cossoninae, Conoderinae, Curculioninae and Entiminae. New species are found in new amber materials The descriptions of these species and the establishment of their systematic positions allow us to add new data to the knowledge of the structure and relationships of the Eocene faunas. This enables the identification of phylogenetic relationships between extinct and extant taxa. In the new amber material, a new species and a new genus of the subtribe Tylodina belonging to the tribe Cryptorhynchini and the subfamily Molytinae was discovered. This is the first described representative of Tylodina from Baltic amber
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