New genus of Rhyparini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae) in amber from the Dominican Republic

Authors

Paul E. Skelley, Florida State Collection of ArthropodsFollow

ORCID IDs

Paul E. Skelley https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2687-6740

Date of this Version

11-18-2021

Citation

Skelley PE. 2021. New genus of Rhyparini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae) in amber from the Dominican Republic. Insecta Mundi 0896: 1–5.

Comments

Copyright held by the author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons, Attribution Non-Commercial License

Published on November 19, 2021 by Center for Systematic Entomology, Inc. P.O. Box 141874 Gainesville, FL 32614-1874 USA http://centerforsystematicentomology.org/

Abstract

Priscyparus quisqueyensis Skelley, new genus and new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Rhyparini), is described in amber from the Dominican Republic. An updated key to New World genera of Rhyparini is presented.

Priscyparus quisqueyensis Skelley, género nuevo y especie nueva (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Rhyparini), se describe de ámbar de la República Dominicana. La clave a los Rhyparini del Nuevo Mundo es enmendada para incluir el nuevo género.

There are only three fossil taxa of Rhyparini (Coleoptera: Scrabaeidae: Aphodiinae) preserved in copal or amber from the New World. There have been brief listings of a Termitodius Wasmann in Colombian copal (Penney and Green 2011; various websites) which is being described in a separate paper. From Dominican amber a “Rhyparus” Westwood and “Termitodius” Wasmann have been reported (Poinar 1992; Wu 1996; Poinar and Poinar 1999; Krell 2007). The “Rhyparus” of Wu (1996) was described as Leptorhyparus quadricornis Skelley (Skelley 2021), and an amber fossil close to “Termitodius” is discussed here.