New minute clubbed beetles (Coleoptera, Monotomidae, Lenacini) from mid-Cretaceous amber of Northern Myanmar

Abstract

Three fossil species classified in the family Monotomidae are described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. They are attributed to the recent tribe Lenacini Crowson, known so far from a single extant endemic species, Lenax mirandus Sharp, from New Zealand. Lenax karenae Liu, Tihelka, McElrath and Yamamoto sp. nov., Cretolenax carinatus Liu, Tihelka, McElrath and Yamamoto gen. et sp. nov., and Cretolenax diabolus Tihelka, Liu, McElrath and Yamamoto gen. et sp. nov. reveal high diversity and a much broader distribution of Lenacini during the Cretaceous. The discovery of the Burmese amber taxa closely related to the New Zealand endemic supports growing evidence about the Gondwanan origin of the West Burma Block.