The earliest fossil record of the extant rove beetle genus Phloeocharis from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar and its biogeographic implications (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Phloeocharinae)

Abstract

Phloeocharis Mannerheim is the largest genus within the problematic rove beetle subfamily Phloeocharinae, with a single extinct and 44 recent species recorded from the Holarctic region. Until now, the oldest fossil record of Phloeocharis was known from Late Cretaceous (Turonian) amber from New Jersey, USA. Here we describe †Phloeocharis burmana n. sp. from mid-Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) Kachin amber from northern Myanmar, as the earliest extinct species of this genus. Our finding also sheds light on the biogeography of Phloeocharis, since no recent or extinct species have so far been recorded from the Oriental Region. Furthermore, the discovery of †P. burmana n. sp. extends the Mesozoic diversity of the phloeocharine rove beetles both taxonomically and morphologically, particularly from Kachin amber.