ANew Lycid Genus from the Dominican Amber ( Insecta , Coleoptera , Lycidae , Leptolycinae , Leptolycini )

No taxa of the family Lycidae have so far been known from the ambers of the New World. All previously described amber lycids come from the Baltic Amber and all belong to the subfamily Erotinae [1–3], although Klebs [4] signaled, also from the Baltic Amber, a representative of Lygistopterus Mulsant, 1838 (Calochrominae). The first Dominican Amber lycid, a well preserved and clearly observable male specimen, turned out to represent a new genus and a new species, apparently very close to some of the recent Leptolycinae from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Its gender is easily defined by the characteristic structure of the terminal abdominal segments, with the elongate, pointed at apex ultimate sternite enveloped laterally by a tergite. The description of the new taxon is given below.


Introduction
No taxa of the family Lycidae have so far been known from the ambers of the New World.All previously described amber lycids come from the Baltic Amber and all belong to the subfamily Erotinae [1][2][3], although Klebs [4] signaled, also from the Baltic Amber, a representative of Lygistopterus Mulsant, 1838 (Calochrominae).
The first Dominican Amber lycid, a well preserved and clearly observable male specimen, turned out to represent a new genus and a new species, apparently very close to some of the recent Leptolycinae from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.Its gender is easily defined by the characteristic structure of the terminal abdominal segments, with the elongate, pointed at apex ultimate sternite enveloped laterally by a tergite.The description of the new taxon is given below.
Female.Unknown.Etymology.The name of the genus is derived from "electron" and "pteron," the Greek for "amber" and "wing."Gender neuter.
Diagnosis.Electropteron gen.n.appears to be related to the extant genus Tainopteron Kazantsev, 2009, from Puerto Rico [5], but is distinguishable by the flattened and distally slightly widening antennomeres 4-11 (Figure 2(a)), less transverse pronotum and more elongate elytra completely covering the folded wings (Figure 1 Head with deep impression behind antennal prominence.Eyes small, interocular dorsal distance over 2 times greater than eye radius.Antennae attaining to elytral middle, with antennomere 3 subequal in length to pedicel (antennomere 2) and 5.5 times shorter than antennomere 4 (Figures 1(a)-2(a)).
Pronotum transverse, ca.1.5 times as wide as long, slightly narrowing anteriorly, with almost straight anterior margin, noticeable anterior, and small acute posterior angles.Scutellum parallel-sided and medially emarginate at apex (Figure 1(a)).Elytra elongate, 3.3 times as long as wide at humeri, narrowing distally, dehiscent in distal two fifths, with two primary costae reaching their apices and costa 1 noticeable in proximal fourth (Figure 1(a)).
Etymology.The name of the new species is derived from "avus," the Latin noun for "grandfather," alluding to its hypothetic ancestry to some of the extant Greater Antillean lycids.
Diagnosis.Electropteron avus sp.n., the only known representative of the genus, is easily distinguishable from the described extant lycids, as well as from the Baltic Amber lycid taxa, by the generic characters.

Discussion
Electropteron avus gen.n., sp.n., which is evidently close to some of the recent Leptolycini from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, is tentatively attributed to the same tribe, although the tribe itself with the unusually wide range of morphologies of its members [5][6][7] may well prove to represent several independent lineages.The tribe Leptolycini is confined to Central America, Greater Antilles, and mostly northern part of South America.It is one of those enigmatic groups of netwinged beetles where females are not known and the pupa phase is presumably absent in female development [8].The discovery of a representative of this group in the ca.30million-year-old Dominican Amber, actually in the area of the current distribution of its close relatives, gives further clues for the reconstruction of the history and phylogenetics of the family.