The oldest fossil Ochodaeidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) from the Middle Jurassic of China

The relatively small family Ochodaeidae Mulsant & Rey, 1871 of the superfamily Scarabaeoidea Latreille, 1802 includes 13 genera and about 100 extant species and subspecies belonging to two subfamilies (Scholtz et al. 1988, Paulsen 2007, Nikolajev 2009). One more subfamily, Cretochodaeinae Nikolajev, 1995, is known only from fossils (Nikolajev 1995). In total, there are four known fossil species of Ochodaeidae belonging to three genera in two different subfamilies (Nikolajev 2007, Krell 2007). The monotypic genus Mioochodaeus Nikolajev, 1995 has been described from Oligocene Rott (Germany). The genera Cretochodaeus Nikolajev, 1995 and Lithochodaeus Nikolajev, 2007 are known from the Lower Cretaceous Bon-Tsagan (Mongolia). Among specimens from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds (Jiulongshan Formation, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia in China, about 165 Ma: Ren et al. 2002, Chen et al. 2004, Rasnitsyn and Zhang 2004, Gao and Ren 2006) one representative of this family was recently found. Its taxonomic placement is unambiguous due to the antennae with 3-antennomere club, mandibles produced beyond apex of labrum, labrum produced beyond apex of clypeus, and eyes not divided by canthus. The purpose of this paper is to describe this new fossil genus and species and document the oldest known record of the family Ochodaeidae dating from the Mesozoic.