Libanopsinae, new subfamily of the family Sphindidae (Coleoptera, Cucujoidea) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber, with remarks on using confocal microscopy for the study of amber inclusions Alexander G. Kirejtshuk a, b, * , Philipp E. Chetverikov a, c , Dany Azar d, b a Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya emb. 1, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia b CNRS UMR 7205, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, Entomologie, 45, rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France c Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Saint-Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya emb. 7/9,199034 St. Petersburg, Russia d Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Natural Sciences, Fanar, El-Metn 26110217, Lebanon article info Article history: Received 19 January 2014 Accepted in revised form 14 February 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Coleoptera Sphindidae New subfamily New genus and species Lebanese amber Lower Cretaceous abstract The present study provides a description of a new subfamily Libanopsinae subfam. nov. with the new genus Libanopsis gen. nov. and five new species (L. poinari sp. nov., L. impexa sp. nov., L. limosa sp. nov., L. straminea sp. nov., L. slipinskii sp. nov.) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber. This extinct subfamily is rather isolated from other subfamilies of the family Sphindidae and shares many external structural features with the extant families Sphindidae and Protocucujidae). The systematic position of the new fossils is discussed and key to species is proposed. It was shown that the confocal laser scanning mi- croscopy (CLSM) is a powerful method for surface reconstruction and studying tiny elements of bio- inclusions in amber (especially arthropod exoskeletons). The quality of CLSM images drastically depends on the medium used for mounting specimens: epoxy resin totally masks the signal from the inclusion under examination, whereas samples prepared Canada Balsam are highly appropriate for CLSM study. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The superfamily Cucujoidea embraces the greatest number of families within the superfamilies of the order Coleoptera. Bouchard et al. (2011) listed 35 recent and 2 extinct families in this group, however the numbers are disputed with various specialists, having their own interpretations. Also most present-day researchers distinguish many small separate families with comparatively minute diagnostic characters (Leschen et al., 2005 etc.) and the authors of the present paper feel obliged to follow this tradition. Great complexities exist in the interpretation of fossils which, on one hand, are still rather poorly known in general, especially those from the Mesozoic. On the other hand, the most reliable records from this era are mostly from the few Cretaceous amber inclusions. Unfortunately small cucujoids are comparatively rare in compres- sion deposits and are often not well preserved, making them difficult to study and compare with recent representatives. As a result, uncommon extinct species and groups were tentatively placed in taxa proposed for the Recent fauna. Thus the fossil record of this superfamily (especially its Mesozoic part) is unreliable for phylogenetic reconstructions. A more detailed overview of cucu- joids in the fossil record is available in the catalogue of Kirejtshuk and Ponomarenko (2013). This paper describes a new Mesozoic sphindid subfamily (Libanopsinae subfam. nov.) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber. This fossil group has clear connection with members of the Recent fauna and could be very significant in illustrating the Mesozoic diversification of the superfamily Cucujoidea. This new subfamily of the Sphindidae Jacquelin du Val, 1858 is represented by a new genus, Libanopsis gen. nov., with five new species: L. poinari sp. nov., L. impexa sp. nov., L. limosa sp. nov., L. straminea sp. nov., L. slipinskii sp. nov., which constitute the earliest record of the family. 2. Material and methods The Lebanese amber specimens examined are deposited in the Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Natural Sciences. For this study, basic optical equipment was used, including a stereomicroscope (Leica MZ 16.0) in the Saint Peters- burg Institute and a stereomicroscope (Olympus SCX9) in the Paris * Corresponding author. Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia. E-mail addresses: kirejtshuk@gmail.com, agk@zin.ru (A.G. Kirejtshuk). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Cretaceous Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/CretRes http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2014.02.008 0195-6671/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Cretaceous Research xxx (2014) 1e19 Please cite this article in press as: Kirejtshuk, A.G., et al., Libanopsinae, new subfamily of the family Sphindidae (Coleoptera, Cucujoidea) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber, with remarks on using confocal microscopy for the study of amber inclusions, Cretaceous Research (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2014.02.008