An Aquatic Water Scavenger Beetle in Early Miocene Amber from the Dominican Republic (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae)

Abstract

We describe a fossil hydrophilid beetle Anacaena paleodominica sp. nov. from the Early Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic, which is the only definitive amber inclusion of the family Hydrophilidae documented. The species belongs to the Recent Anacaena suturalis species group known from the Nearctic, Neotropical, and Australian regions. The fossil demonstrates that representatives of the species group may already have been widespread and common by the Early Miocene, and indicates a possible Miocene/post-Miocene extinction of the aquatic insect fauna on the island of Hispaniola.