The earliest Corotocini (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from Dominican amber, with remarks on post-imaginal growth influence on termitophile taxonomy

Abstract

The tribe Corotocini is one of the most diverse and morphologically specialized groups of rove beetles associated with termites. All species of Corotocini present some degree of membranous enlargement of the abdomen, called physogastry. The development of physogastry occurs after the beetle emerges from the pupa as an ordinary beetle and is accompanied by further modifications related to its sclerotized parts, which makes the early stages (stenogastrics) strikingly different from the fully developed forms (physogastrics). The present study reports the very first fossil record for Corotocini, with a new genus and species, Pareburniola dominicana gen. et. sp. nov., from Miocene Dominican Republic amber.