Remarkable stasis in a phloeocharine rove beetle from the Late Cretaceous of New Jersey (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

Abstract

The first definitive fossil species of the rove beetle (Staphylinidae) subfamily Phloeocharinae is described and figured from a single individual preserved in Late Cretaceous (Turonian) amber from New Jersey. The species is representative of the extant genus Phloeocharis Mannerheim and is described as Phloeocharis agerata Chatzimanolis, Newton, and Engel, new species. The specimen was imaged using traditional light microscopy as well as synchrotron propagation phase contrast microtomography, permitting a detailed examination of otherwise difficult to observe features. Examination revealed remarkable homogeneity across many characters with those of extant relatives, highlighting considerable morphological stasis in the genus over the last 90 million years.