Kristaps Kairišs

• Master of Science
• Heidelberg University

Bacterial biofilms are complex cell communities within a self-produced extracellular matrix, crucial in various fields but challenging to analyze in 3D. We developed a "biofilm-in-capillary" growth method compatible with full-rotation soft X-ray tomography, enabling high-resolution 3D imaging of bacterial cells and their matrix during biofilm forma...

Kateretidae have been considered a family of generalist (as a whole) fossil pollinator beetles after the description of many fossil species in this taxon from the Upper Cretaceous Kachin amber together with pollen grains from their host plant. But the placement of this group of fossils in Kateretidae remained tentative because some definite charact...

Bacterial biofilms are complex communities of cells within a self-produced extracellular matrix. They play crucial roles in healthcare, nutrition, agriculture and environmental research, yet an analysis of their elaborate 3D architecture remains challenging. Understanding mechanisms of biofilm formation, particularly the effects of chemical, physic...

Here we describe Cretabaltoraea volsella Peris, Jelínek & Audisio gen. et sp. nov. of the family Nitidulidae (Coleoptera). As implied by its generic name, the new species is described after a fossil specimen preserved in the Upper Cretaceous Kachin amber from northern Myanmar. This new species is rather similar to the two fossil nitidulid species o...

The development of an organism is orchestrated by the spatial and temporal expression of genes. Accurate visualisation of gene expression patterns in the context of the surrounding tissues offers a glimpse into the mechanisms that drive morphogenesis. We developed correlative light-sheet fluorescence microscopy and X-ray computed tomography approac...

Acrulia danica Shavrin sp. n. from late Eocene Danish amber is described and illustrated based on a female holotype. The new species, embedded within a small piece of amber, was scanned using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT), to enable the detailed study of its morphology including the taxonomically important structure of the accessory sclerit...

The development of an organism is orchestrated by the spatial and temporal expression of genes. Accurate visualisation of gene expression patterns in the context of the surrounding tissues offers a glimpse into the mechanisms that drive morphogenesis. We developed correlative light-sheet fluorescence microscopy and X-ray computed tomography approac...

The genus Prototrichalus Molino-Olmedo, Ferreira, Branham and Ivie, 2020 known from Burmese amber was initially attributed to the family of net-winged beetles (Coleoptera: Lycidae) in the superfamily Elateroidea, and soon after transferred to Tenebrionoidea incertae sedis and compared with Ischalia Pascoe, 1860. Here, we examined additional materia...

Dytiscus latissimus (Coleoptera Dytiscidae) is an endangered diving beetle throughout its range. It is one of the two species of Dytiscidae listed in Annex II of the Habitats Directive, IUCN red list and in many national level legislations and therefore strictly protected. The conservation of endangered species first of all requires an assessment o...

Based on a well-preserved specimen from Eocene Baltic amber, female of Revelieria groehni Sergi, Perkovsky et Reike, 2013 (Coleoptera: Latridiidae) is described and illustrated using X-ray micro-computed tomography (mCT). The sexual dimorphic characters of this species are briefly discussed.

The beetle family Ptilodactylidae is recorded for the first time from Rovno amber, Ukraine. Ptilodactyla odnosum Telnov, Perkovsky, Kundrata and Bukejs sp. nov. and a male of P. eocenica Kundrata, Bukejs and Blank, 2021 are described and illustrated using X-ray micro-computed tomography. Our discoveries of two species in Rovno amber together with r...

A new extinct handsome fungus beetle species of the extant Palaearctic genus Leiestes Chevrolat, L. tomaszewskae Alekseev and Bukejs sp. nov., is described from the Baltic amber. The new species is studied and illustrated in detail using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT). A list of described Endomychidae known from fossil resins (Baltic, Bitter...

A new extinct handsome fungus beetle species of the extant Palaearctic genus Leiestes Chevrolat, L. tomaszewskae Alekseev and Bukejs sp. nov., is described from the Baltic amber. The new species is studied and illustrated in detail using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT). A list of described Endomychidae known from fossil resins (Baltic, Bitter...

Archostematan species Cupes groehni Kirejtshuk, 2005 is recorded from Upper Eocene Rovno amber. It is the first record of the family Cupedidae from this Lagerstätte and the ninth coleopteran species common to Baltic and Rovno ambers. Specimen is examined and illustrated using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT).

Phloeocharinae is a small and likely non-monophyletic subfamily of rove beetles. The enigmatic genus Charhyphus Sharp, 1887 has long been placed in Phloeocharinae, whereas recent studies have found it to be phylogenetically very distant from the core members of this subfamily, suggesting the possibility that it actually deserves its own separate su...

Based on a well-preserved specimen from Eocene Baltic amber, the second species of extinct Aberrokorynetes is described and illustrated using X-ray micro-computed tomography. Three-dimensional models reconstructed from μCT data were used to assist in the description of Aberrokorynetes oceanojubilaei sp. nov. (Cleridae: Korynetinae). The extinct gen...

Simple Summary Recent advances in computational and tomographic methods have enabled detailed descriptions of fossil specimens embedded in amber. In this study, we used X-ray microcomputed tomography to reconstruct the morphology of a specimen of the beetle family Ptilodactylidae from Eocene Baltic amber. The studied specimen represents a new speci...

Based on a well preserved female specimen from Bitterfeld amber, Monolepta rappsilberi sp. nov. is described and illustrated using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT). It is the second reported member of Chrysomelidae from this fossil resin and the first described fossil Monolepta representative. The fossil species represents a lineage that is ex...

A new species of the genus Eusphalerum Kraatz, 1857 (Omaliinae) from the Eocene Baltic amber is described and illustrated: Eu. bukejsi Shavrin, sp.n. The specimen was studied using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT), to obtain images of the habitus, body parts and aedeagus. Based on the shape of the aedeagus, it was compared with East Asian spec...

The subfamily Aneurinae of the flat bug family Aradidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) contains about 150 extant species assigned to seven genera, and seven fossil species of which six were described from Eocene Baltic amber and one from Cretaceous Burmese amber. A new species Aneurus damzeni sp. nov. from Baltic amber is described and illustrated using...

A new species of the genus Charhyphus Sharp, 1887 (Phloeocharinae) from the Eocene Baltic amber is described and illustrated: Ch. balticus Shavrin, sp. nov. The specimen was studied by using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT); images of the habitus, body parts and aedeagus were obtained. Based on external morphology, the new species is related t...

A male representative of the extinct species Calomicrus eocenicus Bukejs et Bezděk, 2014 (Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae) is found and described for the first time from Eocene Baltic amber using X-ray microtomography. The aedeagus is well preserved within the body cavity of the specimen, and it is illustrated in detail. This fossil species exhibits dis...

A new species of Mycetophagidae belonging to the genus Litargus, namely L. (Litargosomus) dantiscensis Alekseev, Kupryjanowicz et Bukejs sp. nov., is described and figured from Eocene Baltic amber using X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT). Three additional specimens of a mycetophagid beetle that is rather common in Baltic amber, Crowsonium succin...

Based on a single well-preserved specimen from Eocene Baltic amber, a new tenebrionid beetle Neomida groehni Nabozhenko et Bukejs sp. nov. (Diaperinae: Diaperini) is described and illustrated using phase-contrast X-ray microtomography. This oldest representative of the genus differs from all known extant and extinct congeners by the dorsally very w...