Abstract
The remarkable holometabolan larva, Trialarva coburgensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Upper Triassic Hassberge Formation in Lower Franconia, southern Germany. It is the second described fossil larva of so-called “Sialidae-type” after the Middle Permian Kargalarva permosialis Prokin et al., to which it is morphologically close. The overall morphology of the new larva is best compatible with an interpretation as aquatic larva of beetle, which is strongly supported by the presence (and the first fossil record) of annular-biforous spiracles—the character unique for Coleoptera and suggested as a part of the coleopteran ground pattern.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beutel, R.G., and R.E. Roughley. 1988. On the systematic position of the family Gyrinidae (Coleoptera: Adephaga). Zeitschrift für zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung 26(5): 380–400.
Beutel, R.G., B. Wang, J.J. Tan, S.Q. Ge, D. Ren, and X.K. Yang. 2013. On the phylogeny and evolution of Mesozoic and extant lineages of Adephaga (Coleoptera, Insecta). Cladistics 29(2): 47–65.
Beutel, R.G., E.V. Yan, and J.F. Lawrence. 2019. Phylogenetic methods applied to extinct beetles—the case of †Tunguskagyrus (Gyrinidae or †Triaplidae). Palaeoentomology 2(4): 372–380.
Fedorenko, D.N. 2014. Wings of Coptoclavidae (Coleoptera, Adephaga) from the Keuper (Triassic) of Franconia, Germany. Paleontological Journal 48(6): 605–609.
Geyer, G., and K.-P. Kelber. 2018. Spinicaudata (“Conchostraca”, Crustacea) from the Middle Keuper (Upper Triassic) of the southern Germanic Basin, with a review of Carnian-Norian taxa and suggested biozones. PalZ. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 92(1): 1–34.
Hennig, W. 1981. Insect phylogeny. Chichester: Wiley.
Huber, P., N.G. McDonald, and P.E. Olsen. 2003. Early Jurassic insects from the Newark Supergroup, northeastern United States. In The Great Rift Valleys of Pangea in Eastern North America, volume 2: sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontology, eds. P.M. LeTourneau and P.E. Olsen, 206–223. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kirejtshuk, A.G., and A.A. Prokin. 2018. The position of the Palaeozoic genus Tunguskagyrus Yan, Beutel et Lawrence in the family Triaplidae sensu n. (Coleoptera, Archostemata: Schizophoroidea). Entomological Review 98(7): 872–882.
Lawrence, J.F. 1991. Order Coleoptera (general discussion). In Immature insects, vol. 2, ed. F.W. Stehr, 34–184. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.
Lawrence, J.F., A. Ślipiński, R.G. Beutel, and A.F. Newton. 2013. A possible larva of Lepicerus inaequalis Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Lepiceridae) from Panama. Zootaxa 3701(3): 393–400.
McKenna, D.D., S. Shin, D. Ahrens, M. Balke, C. Beza-Beza, D.J. Clarke, A. Donath, H.E. Escalona, F. Friedrich, H. Letsch, S. Liu, D. Maddison, Ch Mayer, B. Misof, P.J. Murin, O. Niehuis, R.S. Peters, L. Podsiadlowski, H. Pohl, E.D. Scully, E.V. Yan, X. Zhou, A. Ślipiński, and R.G. Beutel. 2019. The evolution and genome basis of beetle diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(49): 24729–24737.
New, T.R., and G. Theischinger. 1992. Handbook of Zoology. Bd. 4: Arthropoda: Insecta. Pt. 33: Megaloptera: alderflies, dobsonflies. New York, N.Y.: de Gruyter.
Ponomarenko, A.G. 1993. Two new species of Mesozoic dytiscoid beetles from Asia. Paleontological Journal 27(1A): 182–191.
Ponomarenko, A.G. 2002. Superorder Scarabaeidea Laicharting, 1781. Order Coleoptera Linné, 1758. The beetles. In History of insects, eds. A.P. Rasnitsyn and D.L. Quicke, 164–189. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Ponomarenko, A.G., and A.A. Prokin. 2015. Review of paleontological data on the evolution of aquatic beetles (Coleoptera). Paleontological Journal 49(13): 1383–1412.
Ponomarenko, A.G., A.A. Prokin, and A.S. Bashkuev. 2015. Coptoclavid beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Adephaga) from the Triassic of Lower Franconia, Germany. Paleontological Journal 49(12): 1334–1344.
Prokin, A.A., K.V. Makarov, A.G. Ponomarenko, and A.S. Bashkuev. 2013a. New beetles larvae (Coleoptera: Coptoclavidae, Carabidae, Polyphaga) from the Upper Triassic of Germany. Russian Entomological Journal 22(4): 259–274.
Prokin, A.A., P.N. Petrov, B. Wang, and A.G. Ponomarenko. 2013b. New fossil taxa and notes on the Mesozoic evolution of Liadytidae and Dytiscidae (Coleoptera). Zootaxa 3666: 137–159.
Prokin, A.A., A.G. Kirejtshuk, and A.G. Ponomarenko. 2015. On some Permian and Triassic larvae of Holometabola: beetles or not? In Abstracts of the Immature Beetles Meeting 2015, October 1–2, Prague, Czech Republic. Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 55(2): 882–884
Prokin, A.A., A.G. Ponomarenko, and A.G. Kirejtshuk. 2019. Description of a larva of Kargalarva permosialis gen. et sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Schizophoromorpha) from the Kargala fossil site. Paleontological Journal 53(3): 282–286.
Sharov, A.G. 1953. The first find of the Permian megalopteran larva from Kargala. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR 89(4): 731–732. (in Russian).
Wagner, Ph, J.T. Haug, J. Sell, and C. Haug. 2017. Ontogenetic sequence comparison of extant and fossil tadpole shrimps: no support for the “living fossil” concept. PalZ. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 91(4): 463–472.
Waterkeyn, A., P. Grillas, and L. Brendonck. 2016. Experimental test of the ecosystem impacts of the keystone predator Triops cancriformis (Branchiopoda: Notostraca) in temporary ponds. Freshwater Biology 61(9): 1392–1404.
Yan, E.V., R.G. Beutel, and J.F. Lawrence. 2018. Whirling in the late Permian: ancestral Gyrinidae show early radiation of beetles before Permian-Triassic mass extinction. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18: 33.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to E.A. Prokina (Voronezh) for the help with drawings adaptation the Autodesk AutoCAD 2015 software; Dmitry Vorontsov for the help with photographing the fossils; Rolf G. Beutel, two reviewers (Joachim T. Haug, Jӧrg Ansorge), and editor (Mike Reich) for careful reading the manuscript and constructive comments. The second author (ASB) is greatly obliged to Michael and Larissa Henz (SMTE) for the accommodation and further help during his multiple visits to Euerdorf, and to Jürgen Sell, the curator of fossil insect collection in SMTE, who facilitated the fieldwork in Schönbachsmühle and helped with preparation of the specimen. The study of A.A. Prokin was conducted within the framework of the state research project no. AAAAA18-118012690105-0 and supported in part by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 18-04-00243-a).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Handling Editor: Mike Reich.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Prokin, A.A., Bashkuev, A.S. Trialarva coburgensis gen. et sp. nov., a remarkable fossil holometabolan larva (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the Triassic of Germany. PalZ 95, 55–60 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-020-00527-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-020-00527-6