When rare click beetles were not that rare: Cretaceous Cerophytidae Latreille, 1834 (Coleoptera) from Siberia

Abstract

Cerophytidae, commonly known as rare click beetles, represent one of the more basal lineages of the beetle superfamily Elateroidea, with a rather diverse fossil record in the Mesozoic. Four fossil species of this group were previously described from the Cretaceous of Siberia. Here, we redescribe Aphytocerus communis Zherichin, 1977 based on newly found amber specimens from Yantardakh (Taimyr Peninsula). We were able to locate and herein discuss the type specimens of two Mesozoic Siberian cerophytids, Baissophytum convexum Chang, Kirejtshuk & Ren, 2011 and Baissopsis ampla (Chang, Kirejtshuk & Ren, 2011), which were described from the Lower Cretaceous Zaza Formation in Transbaikalia. We compare them with A. communis and discuss the morphology of all three genera, and with Brachycerophytum cretaceum Yu, Ślipiński & Pang, 2019 from Burmese amber.