A fossil tiger beetle (Coleoptera, Adephaga, Cicindelidae) in active pose from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar
Huang, Yuchen; Jarzembowski, Edmund A.; Xiao, Chuantao; Xia, Qihao; Cheng, Hao; Song, Zhenyu
Palaeontographica Abteilung A (2026)
26 references
published online: Oct 15, 2026
manuscript accepted: Aug 18, 2026
manuscript received: Feb 5, 2026
DOI: 10.1127/pala/0182
Abstract
A tiger beetle, Ingentimandibula kachinensis gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a well-preserved specimen from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. It can be distinguished from other genera of the family Cicindelidae mainly by the mandibular characteristics: the inner terebral tooth (TT 1) is slightly thinner than the outer terebral tooth (TT 2), the ratio of the basal width (BW) to the total length (TL) is 0.39, the ratio of the upper incisor length (IL) to TL is 0.66, and the ratio of the head length (TeL) to TL is 0.34. The presence of prominent compound eyes, filamentous long antennae, and cursorial legs are indicative of its nocturnal predatory characteristics. The new taxon represents the fifth definite Mesozoic record of Cicindelidae, providing more early morphological evidence of this family.
Keywords
Palaeoentomology • Kachin amber • Cretaceous • Cicindelidae • new genus