A new genus of Syntomiini rove beetles from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae)

Abstract

A new genus and species of rove beetles, Vidya scabra gen. et sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on a well-preserved amber specimen of the mid-Cretaceous period from northern Myanmar. The new genus is placed in the extant tribe Syntomiini Böving & Craighead of the subfamily Oxytelinae, based on the following combination of features: procoxal fissure open with exposed protrochantin, tibiae without spines, tarsal formula 5-5-5, weakly developed abdominal sternite II, immovably fused to sternite III, and a single pair of wide paratergites on each abdominal segment. Our discovery represents the first record of Syntomiini as amber bioinclusion and documents the palaeodiversity of Oxytelinae during the mid-Cretaceous.