Cretamerus vulloi gen. et sp. nov., the oldest bark-gnawing beetle (Coleoptera: Trogossitidae) from Cretaceous amber

Cretamerus vulloi gen. et sp. nov., a fossil bark-gnawing beetle (Cleroidea: Trogossitidae), is described from the Cretaceous amber (Cenomanian) of Fouras/Bois-Vert, France. It is the oldest known record confirmed for the entire superfamily Cleroidea on the European continent. The fine state of preservation and the transparency of the amber matrix make it possible to determine certain morphological character states for the fossil and insert them into a character matrix of Trogossitidae genera to suggest an internal phylogenetic position for C. vulloi. The resulting tree reveals the basal position of C. vulloi within the lophocaterine clade and it is proposed that it may form an extinct branch of the Recent Decamerini. Some remarks on the palaeobiogeography of the Trogossitidae are also provided. Two other possible Trogossitidae from the Cretaceous amber (Albian) of Spain are also discussed and figured.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:66D7911E-E338-414B-B072-BAE0B0400201