Taxonomy of the reticulate beetles of the subfamily Cupedinae (Coleoptera, Archostemata), with a review of the historical development

Abstract

The paper is mainly devoted to the studies of the fossil Cupedidae from the Paleocene of Menat (Puy-de-Dôme, France) and to a preliminary generic analysis of the subfamily Cupedinae. All modern and fossil taxa of genus rank which could belong to Cupedinae are revised. The previous division of this subfamily into tribes (including Priacmini and Mesocupidini) is regarded as not advisable. An annotated list of the fossil species of the subfamily Cupedinae is compiled and revised. New keys to subfamilies of Cupedidae and to genera and subgenera of Cupedinae, and also keys for species of Cainomerga subgen.n. and Cupes found in deposits from Menat are given. As a result, several new genera and subgenera are proposed, i.e. the fossil Apriacma gen.n., from the early Cretaceous (the type species: Priacma tuberculosa Tan, Ren et Shin, 2006), Cretomerga gen.n., from the early Cretaceous (the type species: Priacmopsis subtilis Tan et Ren, 2006), Cupopsis gen.n. from the late Cretaceous (the type species: Paracupes svetkoi Lubkin, 2003), Cainomerga subgen.n., from the Paleocene (the type species: Mesocupes (Cainomerga) brevicornis sp.n.), Menatops gen.n., from the Paleocene (the type species: Cupes orbiculatus Kirejtshuk, Nel et Collomb, 2010), Taxopsis gen.n., from the late Eocene (the type species: Cupes motschulskyi Kirejtshuk, 2005), Cainocups gen.n., from the latest Oligocene (the type species: Cainocups aixensis sp.n.), as well as the Recent Paracupoides subgen.n., from central Ecuador, South America (the type species: Paracupes ascius Neboiss, 1989). The following species are described from the Paleocene deposits of Menat: Mesocupes (Cainomerga) brevicornis sp.n., M. (C.) fraternus sp.n., M. (C.) palaeocenicus sp.n., M. (C.) ponti sp.n., Menatops bartenevi sp.n., Cupes distinctissimus sp.n., C. simillimus sp.n., or commented: Menatops orbiculatus (Kirejtshuk, Nel et Collomb, 2010), comb.n. transferred from Cupes], and Mesocupes (Cainomerga) immaculatus (Piton, 1940), comb.n. transferred from Zonabris (Meloidae). Besides, some cupedine fossils from Menat remain without both description and generic attribution. Kirghizocupes Ponomarenko, 1966 is transferred from the Triadocupedinae to Cupedinae and synonymized with

Early evolution of Cupedidae revealed by a mid‐Cretaceous reticulated beetle from Myanmar (Coleoptera: Archostemata)

“…is superficially similar to that of extant Paracupes species from South America, but it differs from the latter by many significant features (see Discussion). The fossil can be assigned with confidence to the Paracupes‐ related genus Priacma as evidenced by the distinct subtruncate elytral apices, the peculiar rows of sharp teeth along the lateral elytral margins [also found in Paracupes and Mesocupes admotus (Ponomarenko); Kirejtshuk et al ., ], and the presence of fixing epipleural folds near elytral apices (a synapomorphy of Priacma ). All characters are distinctive among all extant cupedids, and they have been regarded as important diagnostic features for Priacma (Kirejtshuk et al ., ).…”

“…The fossil can be assigned with confidence to the Paracupes‐ related genus Priacma as evidenced by the distinct subtruncate elytral apices, the peculiar rows of sharp teeth along the lateral elytral margins [also found in Paracupes and Mesocupes admotus (Ponomarenko); Kirejtshuk et al ., ], and the presence of fixing epipleural folds near elytral apices (a synapomorphy of Priacma ). All characters are distinctive among all extant cupedids, and they have been regarded as important diagnostic features for Priacma (Kirejtshuk et al ., ). In addition, P. megapuncta has widely separated antennae (distance between antennal insertions more than half the distance between eyes), and elongate and robust mandibles.…”

“…The beetle suborder Archostemata is currently a comparatively small group of Coleoptera, with 45 species occurring in South America, North America, Europe, Asia and Australia ( Hörnschemeyer, ). Compared with their extant fauna, archostematans were abundant and diverse in the fossil record, especially from the Mesozoic era (Hörnschemeyer, ; Kirejtshuk et al ., ). The earliest‐known beetles from the Permian are superficially like Archostemata (Ponomarenko, ), but represent stem‐group Coleoptera (Beutel & Friedrich, ; Hörnschemeyer, ).…”

“…A comprehensive morphology‐based phylogenetic analysis by Hörnschemeyer () indicated that the species‐poor genera Priacma LeConte and Paracupes Kolbe together comprise the sister clade to the rest of crown‐group Cupedidae. Although Cupedidae is the most diverse archostematan family today, fossils belonging to Cupedidae appear to be much more abundant and diverse in the Mesozoic than in the present (Kirejtshuk et al ., ). Fossil cupedids are mainly preserved as compressions, of which many key characters are usually not well preserved or simply missing, obscuring reliable interpretation.…”

An amber double first: a new brochocolein beetle (Coleoptera: Archostemata) from northern Myanmar

“…Today, there are no living ommatine beetles of any description to be found in Eurasia. Brochocoleins presumably died out during the Tertiary (the youngest record being a 'tetraphalerin' in the Bembridge Marls of the Isle of Wight: Kirejtshuk et al (2016)), leaving no relict species in the southern continents, unlike their relatives. Further collecting and palaeoenvironmental analysis is needed of these archaic fossil beetles.…”