62 
Psyche 
[June-Sept. 
A PTILIID BEETLE FROM BALTIC AMBER IN THE 
MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY 
By C. T. Parsons 
Biological Laboratories, Harvard University 
In so far as no fossil Ptiliidae have as yet been given 
names, it may be of interest to describe a species of Ptinella 
from the Oligocene amber of East Prussia. 
Helm, 1896, merely mentions the occurence of the family 
in Baltic amber, and Klebs, 1911, states on the authority of 
Edmund Reitter that there is in his collection a Ptenidium 
and a new genus. 
Today the genus Ptinella has a remarkable range. The 
twenty known species are distributed as follows: Europe 
(7, 2 of which also occur in the Canary Islands) , Japan (1) , 
Honolulu (1), New Zealand (1), North America (2), 
Central America (3), South America (2), St. Helena Island 
(1), and the Seychelles Islands (2). Since such a dis- 
tribution indicates an ancient history, it is not surprising to 
find the genus in the Oligocene. Moreover, the living forms 
most commonly occur under the bark of Betula, Quercus , and 
particularly Pinus , all of which were common in northern 
Europe in the Oligocene. 
Ptinella oligoccenica n. sp. 
Fig. 1, a-e 
The characters of generic importance are brought to- 
gether in one paragraph. Body elongate; antennae 11- 
jointed, long and slender, with long setae, club elongate; 
head prominent, rather large ; eyes moderate ; thorax rather 
small, transverse, and constricted near the base; scutellum 
large, triangular ; elytra abbreviated, with apices separately 
rounded ; venter of six segments, with apical segment 
simple ; legs rather long and robust, posterior coxae remote 
