The oldest aleocharine rove beetle (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) in Cretaceous Burmese amber and its implications for the early evolution of the basal group of hyper-diverse Aleocharinae

The subfamily Aleocharinae is a hyper-diverse group of Staphylinidae, accounting for nearly one-third of the diversity within the largest animal family on Earth. Here we describe Cretodeinopsis aenigmatica gen. et sp. nov., the first definitive Mesozoic aleocharine based on a well-preserved individual in the earliest Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) amber from Myanmar (Burma). The new genus is clearly assigned to the ‘basal’ group of Aleocharinae...