Smallest and oldest false skin beetle: Paleobiphyllus ponomarenkoi gen. et sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Cleroidea: Biphyllidae) from Santonian Taimyr amber, northern Russia

An extinct genus and species of the family Biphyllidae is described from Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Taimyr amber (Yantardakh): Paleobiphyllus ponomarenkoi gen. et sp. nov. The new genus is distinguished by a two-segmented antenna) club, the proportions of tarsomeres (first four segments subequal in size, setose lobes poorly-developed), the narrow tibiae, the separated coxae of all legs, the metaventrite and 1st abdominal ventrite each with one pair of postmetacoxal lines, and the uniform pubescence of the dorsum. The characters shown by Paleobiphyllus gen. nov. support the traditional interpretation of the systematic position of the Biphyllidae among the Cucujoidea. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.