An erotine net-winged beetle from Cenomanian Burmese amber confirms the Mesozoic origins of subfamilies (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Lycidae: Erotinae)

A new net-winged beetle, Dostaliella filiformis gen. et sp. nov., is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Due to distinct morphology, the new tribe Dostaliellini trib. nov. is erected for this species in the subfamily Erotinae (Coleoptera, Elateroidea, Lycidae). Unlike previously described Cretaceous lycids, Dostaliella filiformis gen. et sp. nov. features a median pronotal areola. The presence of Erotinae in Cenomanian fauna is consistent with age estimates for Erotinae based on molecular phylogenies not calibrated with lycid data. The finding represents physical evidence for the timing of the radiation of the Erotinae and their low morphological disparity since the early phase of their evolution. Notably, all known lycid specimens preserved in Burmese amber are females with fully developed elytra, wings, and other appendages. Therefore, we still do not have any direct fossil evidence of neoteny in net-winged beetles and must reject the recent claim that the females of Cenomanian Lycidae, i.e., Burmolycini, were neotenic. None of the known Cretaceous lycid females resemble the fully larviform females seen in some modern groups of net-winged beetles.