Vetuprostomis gaoi Li & Cai 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Li, Yan-Da
name: Hsiao, Yun
name: Huang, Di-Ying
name: Cai, Chen-Yang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Prostomidae
Vetuprostomis
Vetuprostomis gaoi

description: Vetuprostomis gaoi Li & Cai sp. nov.
(Figs 5–7)
Material. Holotype, NIGP177908.
Etymology. The species is named after Mr. Yu-He Gao, who kindly donated many fossils for our research.
Locality and horizon. Amber mine located near Noije Bum Village, Tanai Township, Myitkyina District, Kachin State, Myanmar; unnamed horizon, mid-Cretaceous, Upper Albian to Lower Cenomanian.
Diagnosis. Lateral sides of clypeus subparallel in anterior half (Fig. 7H). Left mandible with three apical teeth and two narrowly separated and basally strongly jointed teeth on incisor edge (Fig. 7H). Penultimate maxillary palpomere about as long as apical one (Fig. 7A). Jugal processes asymmetrical, comparatively short; right process longer than left one; inner sides with a tooth (Fig. 7A). Median groove of pronotum weakly developed, shorter than half length of pronotum (Fig. 5). Anterior angles of pronotum not pointed (Fig. 5).
Description. Body elongate and flattened, about 4.7 mm long, 1.0 mm wide (maximum width across head).
Head prognathous, constricted posteriorly, with distinct neck region. Temples (Fig. 7B) distinctly projected posterolaterally. Eyes small, round and finely facetted, without interfacetal setae. Antennal insertions slightly concealed from above; subantennal grooves absent. Frontoclypeal suture not clearly discerned. Clypeus (Fig. 7H) with lateral sides subparallel (or weakly diverging) in anterior portion; anterior margin truncate. Labrum (Fig. 7H) narrowed anteriorly, apically truncate, with numerous elongate setae. Antennae 11-segmented, moniliform, with weak, 3-segmented club. Mandibles (Fig. 7H) tridentate apically; left mandible with two narrowly separated and basally strongly jointed teeth on incisor edge; right mandible with one blunt tooth on incisor edge. Maxillary palps (Fig. 7A) probably 4-segmented; palpomere 1 short; palpomere 2 elongate; palpomere 3 longer than wide, distinctly longer than half length of apical one. Labial palps 3-segmented; palpomere 1 short; palpomeres 2 and 3 elongate. Ligula (Fig. 7A) biemarginate apically. Mentum strongly transverse. Jugal processes (Fig. 7A) asymmetrical; inner sides with a tooth; right process longer than left one, strongly constricted above tooth; left process weakly constricted above tooth.
Pronotal disc longer than wide; anterior angles not pointed; lateral sides subparallel; median groove not clearly discerned. Prosternal process (Fig. 7C) wide, expanding beyond procoxae and meeting broad postcoxal projections, apically truncate. Procoxal cavities (Fig. 7C) circular, widely separated. Elytra about 2.6 times as long as width combined; surface with longitudinal carinae. Mesoventrite (Fig. 7E) relatively narrow. Mesocoxal cavities (Fig. 7E) moderately separated. Exposed portion of metanepisternum elongate and narrow. Metaventral discrimen (Fig. 7F) short, only visible near the posterior end. Metacoxae (Fig. 7F) not meeting elytra laterally.
Legs (Fig. 7D,F) short. Femora distally with groove on inner side. Tibiae shorter than femora, widened apically with spinose outer apical angle; spurs large and stout, paired on all legs. Tarsi 4-4-4; tarsomeres simple, without ventral lobes. Pretarsal claws simple.
Abdomen (Fig. 7G) with five ventrites. Ratio of ventrite lengths along middle: 2.4: 1.8: 1.4: 1.0: 1.4. Ventrite 5 apically broadly rounded.
description: Published as part of Li, Yan-Da, Hsiao, Yun, Huang, Di-Ying & Cai, Chen-Yang, 2022, New species of Vetuprostomis from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea: Prostomidae), pp. 563-574 in Zootaxa 5125 (5) on pages 569-572, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5125.5.6, http://zenodo.org/record/6457396