Salignacicola ebboi
Creators: name: Batelka, Jan
name: Prokop, Jakub
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Ripiphoridae
Salignacicola
Salignacicola ebboi

description: Description of <i>Salignacicola</i> <i>ebboi</i> (Perrichot, Nel et Néraudeau, 2004), a species originally placed within Macrosiagonini, cannot be compared with other ripiphorids because of absence of some important information. Several of the most prominent characters of this fossil can be, however, preliminarily reconsidered in the context of certain ripiphorid lineages or genera as follows: 1) Tibial spur formula 1-2-2. Reduction in the number of tibial spurs is common in various lineages of Ripiphoridae (see above comments for character 2 under <i>Melanosiagon</i> gen. nov.) and occurs also in most Macrosiagonini. 2) Antennomeres III–XI (X) in males with single long projection. Character present in all Ptilophorinae, Pelecotominae and Hemirhipidiinae, and most Ripidiinae (except for several genera with filiform antennomeres and <i>Paleoripiphorus</i> with biflabellate antennae). In males of Ripiphorinae antennomeres III–X (IX) always have two long rami. 3) Tread-like antennal rami. Present in some species of <i>Macrosiagon</i> (see above comments for character 3 under <i>Melanosiagon</i> gen. nov.). 4) Long hair-like sensilla on antennal rami. Similar sensilla occur in several species of <i>Ptilophorus</i> Dejean, 1834 inhabiting Socotra, Central Asia and USA [37]. Homology of this character in <i>Salignacicola</i> gen. nov. and the modern offshoot <i>Ptilophorus,</i> is unlikely. 5) Reduced wing venation. Tis character state is present in all Ripidiinae [38] and Ripiphorinae, but in both subfamilies the venation is quite different [26, 27]. 6) Abdomen is 9-segmented. Ripiphoridae (except for Ripidiinae) have a 5-segmented abdomen. Up to seven visible segments are discernible in some fossil Ripidiinae with VIIIth and IXth segment visible as internal structures [38]. In <i>Salignacicola</i> gen. nov. the reported number may be incorrect: five translucent telescopically overlapping segments would appear to be nine units. Tis character should be reinvestigated. 7) Legs long and slender with apical setal fringes on tibia and tarsomeres. Typical for Macrosiagonini (like <i>Metoecus</i>), Pelecotominae and Hemirhipidiinae. In Ptilophorinae they are much shorter and stronger, in Ripidiinae distinct tibial and tarsal setal fringes are absent. 8) Long meta(tibial) spurs. Present only in Ptilophorinae and Ripiphorinae (see above comments for character 9 under <i>Melanosiagon</i> gen. nov.). 9) Serrate pretarsal claws. Now known in both Ripiphorinae tribes, Ptilophorinae, and South American Pelecotominae (see above comments for character 10 under <i>Melanosiagon</i> gen. nov.). <i>Salignacicola</i> gen. nov. shares characters 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9 with Ripiphorinae as the subfamily is now understood (i.e., including <i>Melanosiagon</i> gen. nov.), but uniflabellate antennae (character 2) excludes <i>Salignacicola</i> gen. nov. from Ripiphorinae more basally or it might require (depending on the shape of the sclerites on the metathorax) redefinition of this character in this subfamily. Long hair-like sensilla on antennal rami (character 4) can be interpreted as an apomorphy of the genus, but not as synapomorphy with certain recent species of <i>Ptilophorus</i> bearing similar sensilla. <i>Salignacicola</i> gen. nov. thus, may represent a stem lineage of Ripiphorinae (retaining the uniflabellate antennae of its ancestors), which went extinct at the end of Cretaceous, but its exact phylogenetic position within the subfamily will remain unclear until the critical characters of the holotype are reinvestigated using micro-CT and redescribed in accordance with the high standard of the descriptions of most of the Ripiphoridae entrapped in very transparent Burmese amber.
description: Published as part of <i>Batelka, Jan &amp; Prokop, Jakub, 2021, The earliest beetle with mouthparts specialized for feeding on nectar is a parasitoid of mid-Cretaceous Hymenoptera, pp. 1-12 in BMC Ecology and Evolution (207) (207) 21 (1)</i> on page 7, DOI: 10.1186/s12862-021-01930-6, http://zenodo.org/record/5733385
description: {"references": ["37. Batelka J. Ptilophorus purcharti sp. nov., the first ripiphorid from Socotra Island, with an account of the biogeography of the Ptilophorini (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae), pp. 269 - 285. In: Hajek J, Bezdek J. editors. Insect biodiversity of the Socotra Archipelago. Acta Entomol. Mus. Nat. Pragae. 2012; 52 (Suppl 2) i-vi + 1 - 557.", "38. Batelka J, Prokop J. Ripidinelia burmiticola gen. et sp. nov. from Cretaceous amber - the first species of Ripidiinae with tibial spurs (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae). Paleoentomology. 2019; 2: 633 - 42.", "26. Kukalova-Peck J, Lawrence JF. Evolution of the hind wing in Coleoptera. Can Entomol. 1993; 125: 181 - 258.", "27. Fedorenko DN. Evolution of the beetle hind wing, with special reference to folding (Insecta, Coleoptera). Golovatch SI. editor. Pensoft, Sofia-Moscow; 2009. 1 - 336."]}