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Issue: Vol. 6 No. 3: June 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-06-14
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.3.5
Page range: 235–241
Abstract views: 361
PDF downloaded: 7

Discovery of the oldest known elmid larva (Coleoptera, Elmidae) from the Lower Eocene of Rajasthan (India, Palana Formation)

Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya emb., 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia
Department of Geology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar, 246174, Uttarakhand, India
Department of Geology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar, 246174, Uttarakhand, India
Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters Russian Academy of Sciences, 152742, Borok, Nekouzsky District, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia; Voronezh State University, 394018, Voronezh, Universitetskaya pl., 1, Russia
Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP50, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75005 Paris, France
Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Burgring 7, A-1010 Wien, Austria
Coleoptera Elmidae India Palana Formation Insecta Dryopoidea fossil records Gurha Bikaner

Abstract

A single elmid larva is reported from a laminate maroon shale bed of Gurha opencast lignite mine (Palana Formation, early Eocene, Bikaner District, north-western Rajasthan, India). It is the first fossil larva that can be attributed to Elmidae with certainty. A generic assignation is not possible, because the larva is strongly compressed, and the most important characters are not visible or poorly preserved. The larva is described morphologically and illustrated by photographs and line drawings. A larva of a holometabolous insect from Baltic amber, which was published recently as a member of Elmidae by Zippel et al. (2022), possesses no structural characters that would clearly suggest placement in this family. A photograph of the hitherto unknown larva of the extant Grouvellinus rioloides from Kyrgyzstan is included for comparison.

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