On the identity of the fossil hydrophilid beetles from the Tertiary localities in the southern part of the Upper Rhine Graben (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae, Dytiscidae)

By

Fikáček, Martin
Hajek, Jiri
Schmied, Heiko

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2011

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

78

Pages

15-25

Subjects

Hydrophilidae, Dytiscidae, Copelatus, fossils, low

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.78.800

 

Abstract

This study focuses on the beetles from the Oligocene localities in the southern part of the Upper Rhine Graben (Brunstatt: France, Alsace; and Kleinkems: Germany, Baden-Württemberg) assigned to the family Hydrophilidae by previous authors. The identity of Escheria convexa Förster, 1891 is fixed by the designation of its neotype, the species is redescribed, illustrated and transferred from the hydrophilid genus Hydrobius Leach, 1815 to the genus Copelatus Erichson, 1832 (Coleoptera: Adephaga: Dytiscidae) and compared with other fossil representatives of Copelatus. The identity of the remaining three species is briefly evaluated on the basis of the original descriptions and illustrations only, because their types were lost or destroyed during World War II; all three species are removed from the fossil record of the Hydrophiloidea and placed into Polyphaga incertae sedis. The geology and stratigraphy of both fossil outcrops is discussed briefly.