A review of the fossil taxa originally assigned to Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

The four described fossil taxa originally assigned to Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) are reviewed. Mesopyrrhocoris fasciatus Hong & Wang, 1990 (correction of gender agreement) from the Lower Cretaceous of Laiyang Basin, Shandong, China, was reclassified as Cimicomorpha incertae sedis by Shcherbakov (2008), an opinion confirmed here. The status of ‘Dysdercus’ cinctus Scudder, 1890 and ‘Dysdercus’ unicolor Scudder, 1890 from the Eocene of Florissant, Colorado, USA, and their placement in Pyrrhocoridae, are doubtful. ‘Pyrrhocoris’ rottensis nom nov. (= Pyrrhocoris tibialis Statz & Wagner, 1950) from the Upper Oligocene of Rott, Germany, is reclassified here as Lygaeoidea incertae sedis due to the presence of ocelli in the fossil. As a result, currently there is no fossil taxon which can be placed in Pyrrhocoroidea with certainty. The extant Pyrrhocoris tibialis Stål, 1874 is confirmed as junior subjective synonym of P. sibiricus Kuschakewitsch, 1866.

A new leafhopper (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from late Eocene Rovno amber described based on an adult and associated last-instar nymph from Perebrody (Ukraine)

Rovnoxestus rasnitsyni gen. & sp. nov. is described from Eocene Rovno amber based on an adult female and fifth-instar nymph collected at a recently discovered locality at Perebrody, Rovno Province, Ukraine. The new fossil taxon is tentatively placed in Aphrodinae and resembles Xestocephalites Dietrich & Gonçalves from Eocene Baltic amber but has the hind femur macrosetal formula 2+2+1 and hind tarsomere I in both nymph and adult with an elongated inner preapical seta. This is the first species of Eocene leafhopper for which both the adult and nymph are described in detail.

Cissus lombardiana a new name for Cissus ulmifolia (Vitaceae)

Cissus Linnaeus (1753: 117) is the most speciose genus in the family Vitaceae and notable for its pantropical intercontinental disjunct pattern (Liu et al. 2013). According to the recent estimate, the genus is known to have 291 accepted species (POWO 2020) and it is widely distributed in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America and Mexico (Wen 2007). The main characters delimiting Cissus from other Vitaceae genera are the well-developed, thick and undivided floral disks, tetramerous flowers, one-seeded berries, and seeds with a long and linear chalaza (Wen 2007). In South America, Cissus is represented by 64 species (Lombardi 2000, 2007, Rodrigues et al. 2014). Amongst C. ulmifolia (Baker 1871: 213) Planchon (1887: 552) that is a later homonym of an Italian fossil taxon Cissus ulmifolia Massalongo (1858: 80). While checking the literature and relevant websites for the availability of any synonyms, we found that C. allenii Croat (1977: 358) and C. serrulatifolia Williams (1962: 375) are listed as heterotypic synonyms of C. ulmifolia in Tropicos (2020) following Nelson (2010). However, C. allenii was synonymized under C. serrulatifolia by most of the workers (Govaerts 1999, Lombardi 2007, Morales 2015, POWO 2020, Raz & Zamora 2020) but C. ulmifolia was treated as a distinct species. So in order to ascertain the taxonomic status, we critically studied the protologues and digital specimens including types of these three species, we found that the characters of C. allenii are well within the range of C. serrulatifolia but C. ulmifolia differs from them by its 4-sided, distinctly winged stem (vs. stem terete, not winged or wingless in C. serrulatifolia) and the fruits ovoid or ovoid–subglobose, smooth (vs. obovoid or subpyriform, lenticellate in C. serrulatifolia). Since no other validly published legitimate name is available for this species (Lombardi 2007, Mota de Oliveira & Jansen-Jacobs 2016, POWO 2020), therefore, the authors propose Cissus lombardiana as a replacement name.

The enigmatic arthropod Duraznovis gallegoi from the Late Triassic of Argentina is a cicadomorphan head (Insecta: Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha)

Recently, Lara et al. (2020a, b) described a new fossil taxon, Duraznovis gallegoi, based on two specimens from the Upper Triassic Potrerillos Formation at Quebrada del Durazno, Cuyana Basin of Argentina. This fossil is considered to be an enigmatic arthropod closely resembling the living and fossil representatives of xiphosurans (Chelicerata) and notostracans (Branchiopoda), two completely different arthropod groups with convergent body plans. Some distinctive combination of features, however, makes the systematic position of these specimens indeterminate (Lara et al., 2020a, b).

Tertiarius minutulus sp. nov. (Stephanodiscaceae, Bacillariophyta) – a new fossil diatom species from Lake Ohrid

A new fossil diatom species, Tertiarius minutulus sp. nov., is described from a sediment sequence DEEP-5045-1 of Lake Ohrid. The species is characterized by small valves (3.0–8.0 µm) with a round shape, a marginal area with radially arranged costae and a central uneven area with scattered areolae. Externally, the alveoli are occluded by cribra perforated by irregularly arranged pores. Internally, the alveoli are simple and areolae are occluded with domed cribra. The marginal fultoportulae are situated on costae close to the valve margin, located on every 5th or 7th thick internal costa. One to three fultoportulae are present on the valve face, each surrounded by two to three satellite pores. One rimoportula is present, positioned on a costa at the valve face / mantle junction. The species is compared with morphologically similar taxa and a detailed differential diagnosis is provided. Tertiarius minutulus sp. nov. is known only as a fossil taxon from Lake Ohrid, with a first occurrence during the early stages of lake basin development.

The first fossil pycnocheiridiine pseudoscorpion (Pseudoscorpiones: Cheiridiidae: Procheiridium gen. nov.) from Cretaceous Burmese amber

Procheiridium judsoni n. gen. et n. sp. is described from Burmese cretaceous amber. This species represents the earliest record of the pseudoscorpion subfamily Pycnocheiridiinae and the first fossil taxon of the subfamily to be recorded. The phylogenetic position of the new genus in the superfamily Cheiridioidea is discussed.

The first record of caeculid mites from the Cretaceous amber of Myanmar with notes on the phylogeny of the family

Procaeculus coineaui sp. nov. from Cretaceous Burmese amber is described and its phylogenetic position discussed. This fossil taxon is the first caeculid mite known from Burmese amber and constitutes the earliest record of the family. The genus Procaeculus is redefined to include the new fossil species and internal relationships between genera of the family are discussed based on a phylogenetic hypothesis.

Systematic notes on the Cerambycidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) described from Burmese amber

The description of a new fossil taxon presupposes the global knowledge of the examined group and of the existence of possible sibling, mimicking or simply superficially similar taxa. The older the fossils are, the greater the possibility of misidentification. Moreover, the knowledge of the assumed phylogeny and of the evolution centres of the extant taxa allows understanding the real taxonomy of new fossil entities, giving consistency and support to the descriptions.

Two new fossil representatives of Eurypinae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea: Mycteridae) from Eocene Baltic amber and placement of Neopolypria nigra Abdullah, 1964

Two new species of Eurypinae (Coleoptera: Mycteridae) are described from Eocene Baltic amber from the Kaliningrad Region, Russia: Glesoconomorphus nachzehrer gen. et sp. nov. and Omineus febribilis sp. nov. The first new fossil taxon displays affinity to recent members of the Neotropical Conomorphus-Stilpnonotus lineage, and the second species was placed into the present-day eastern and southeastern Asian genus Omineus Lewis. The fossil Neopolypria nigra Abdullah, 1964 (Baltic amber) is moved from Mycteridae and placed as incertae sedis within Tenebrionoidea Latreille, 1802.

The effects of skeletal asymmetry on interpreting biologic variation and taphonomy in the fossil record

Biologic asymmetry is present in all bilaterally symmetric organisms as a result of normal developmental instability. However, fossilized organisms, which have undergone distortion due to burial, may have additional asymmetry as a result of taphonomic processes. To investigate this issue, we evaluated the magnitude of shape variation resulting from taphonomy on vertebrate bone using a novel application of fluctuating asymmetry. We quantified the amount of total variance attributed to asymmetry in a taphonomically distorted fossil taxon and compared it with that of three extant taxa. The fossil taxon had an average of 27% higher asymmetry than the extant taxa. In spite of the high amount of taphonomic input, the major axes of shape variation were not greatly altered by removal of the asymmetric component of shape variation. This presents the possibility that either underlying biologic trends drive the principal directions of shape change irrespective of asymmetric taphonomic distortion or that the symmetric taphonomic component is large enough that removing only the asymmetric component is inadequate to restore fossil shape. Our study is the first to present quantitative data on the relative magnitude of taphonomic shape change and presents a new method to further explore how taphonomic processes impact our interpretation of the fossil record.