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1. A New Genus and Species Representing the First Leafhopper (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from Eocene Rovno Amber

   https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.3.2.7  

   DIETRICH, CHRISTOPHER H.; PERKOVSKY, EVGENY E. (April 2020, Palaeoentomology)

   null (Ed.)

   Rovnotettix brachypterus gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated from Eocene Rovno (Ukraine) amber and tentatively placed in subfamily Bathysmatophorinae, tribe Malmaemichungiini. The new fossil is the first cicadellid described from Rovno amber from the Volyn region and the second brachypterous leafhopper adult described from the fossil record. It does not appear to be closely related to Brevaphrodella Dietrich & Gonçalves from Eocene Baltic amber, indicating that multiple flightless cicadellid lineages, now mostly associated with dry habitats with patchy vegetation, had evolved in Europe by the Eocene. 

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2. Fossil soldier beetles (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) of the Georg Statz Collection from the Oligocene Rott Formation, Germany

   https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.5.13  

   Fanti, Fabrizio; Walker, Lindsay J. (January 2019, Palaeoentomology)

   Specimens of the family Cantharidae Imhoff, 1856 from the Georg Statz Collection (latest Oligocene, Rott Formation, Germany) are studied. Six specimens are relatively complete for species-level determinations, including one with a partial aedeagus visible, a first for soldier beetles preserved as compressions. The new species herein described include: Cantharis (Cantharis) bradburyi sp. nov., C. (C.) lidiae sp. nov., C. (C.) rottensis sp. nov., Podistra (Absidia) quies sp. nov., Rhagonycha (Rhagonycha) carolynae sp. nov. and R. (R.) ultramundana sp. nov.. Notably, these genera are still found in Germany and the present report thus provides support for earlier occurrences of Cantharis, Podistra, and Rhagonycha from the Eocene Baltic amber. 

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3. Inbreeding depression in a sexually selected weapon and the homologue in females

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voad011  

   Allen, Pablo E.; Miller, Christine W. (December 2023, Journal of Evolutionary Biology)

   Abstract Theory predicts that traits with heightened condition dependence, such as sexually selected traits, should be affected by inbreeding to a greater degree than other traits. The presence of environmental stress may compound the negative consequences of inbreeding depression. In this study, we examined inbreeding depression across multiple traits and whether it increased with a known form of environmental stress. We conducted our experiment using both sexes of the sexually dimorphic leaf-footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae). Adult male cactus bugs have enlarged hind legs used as weapons in male–male contests; these traits, and their homologue in females, have been previously found to exhibit high condition dependence. In this study, we employed a small developmental group size as an environmental stress challenge. Nymph N. femorata aggregate throughout their juvenile stages, and previous work has shown the negative effects of small group size on survivorship and body size. We found evidence of inbreeding depression for survival and seven of the eight morphological traits measured in both sexes. Inbreeding depression was higher for the size of the male weapon and the female homolog. Additionally, small developmental group size negatively affected survival to adulthood. However, small group size did not magnify the effects of inbreeding on morphological traits. These findings support the hypothesis that traits with heightened condition dependence exhibit higher levels of inbreeding depression. 

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4. Unexpected larger distribution of paleogene stem-rollers (AVES, CORACII): new evidence from the Eocene of Patagonia, Argentina

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80479-8  

   Degrange, Federico J.; Pol, Diego; Puerta, Pablo; Wilf, Peter (December 2021, Scientific Reports)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Here we present the first record of a stem-Coracii outside the Holarctic region, found in the early Eocene of Patagonia at the Laguna del Hunco locality. Ueekenkcoracias tambussiae gen. et sp. nov. consists of an incomplete right hind limb that presents the following combination of characters, characteristic of Coracii: relatively short and stout tibiotarsus, poorly developed crista cnemialis cranialis, short and wide tarsometatarsus, with the tuberositas m. tibialis cranialis located medially on the shaft, and curved and stout ungual phalanges. Although the presence of a rounded and conspicuous foramen vasculare distale and the trochlea metatarsi II strongly deflected medially resemble Primobucconidae, a fossil group only found in the Eocene of Europe and North America, our phylogenetic analysis indicates the new taxon is the basalmost known Coracii. The unexpected presence of a stem-Coracii in the Eocene of South America indicates that this clade had a more widespread distribution than previously hypothesized, already extending into the Southern Hemisphere by the early Eocene. Ueekenkcoracias tambussiae represents new evidence of the increasing diversity of stem lineages of birds in the Eocene. The new material provides novel morphological data for understanding the evolutionary origin and radiation of rollers and important data for estimates of the divergence time of the group. 

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5. Hirsutisoma grimaldii sp. nov., a ca. 99-million-year-old ricinuleid (Primoricinulei, Hirsutisomidae) from Cretaceous Burmese amber with a corticolous, scansorial lifestyle

   https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.5.5.11  

   BOTERO-TRUJILLO, RICARDO; DAVIS, STEVEN R.; MICHALIK, PETER; PRENDINI, LORENZO (September 2022, Palaeoentomology)

   Ricinulei Thorell, 1876 is an order of Arachnida currently represented in the New and Old Worlds by 103 living species. The order is also represented in the fossil record from the Carboniferous (ca. 305–319 Ma) and the Cretaceous (ca. 99 Ma) periods. In the present contribution, Hirsutisoma grimaldii sp. nov., a new extinct species of the suborder Primoricinulei Wunderlich, 2015, is described from a specimen preserved in Cretaceous Burmese amber. The specimen is a well-preserved adult male in which several taxonomically informative structures are visible, allowing the new species to be differentiated from Hirsutisoma bruckschi Wunderlich, 2017, the only other congener for which a male is known. This description raises the number of Cretaceous Ricinulei species to six. A comparative table documents morphological differences among the various species of this lineage. Hypotheses concerning the paleoecology and functional morphology of this species and, by extrapolation, other primoricinuleids, are presented. The evidence suggests that Primoricinulei were corticolous, scansorial predators. 

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