New species of Notocupes (Coleoptera: Archostemata) from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds, with discussion on the generic circumscription

Abstract

Exquisitely preserved fossils from the Middle Jurassic Haifanggou Formation (the Daohugou beds; ~165 Ma) and mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (~99 Ma) are studied to clarify the external morphology of Notocupes. Three new species from Daohugou are described as N. spinosus sp. nov., N. robustus sp. nov., and N. daohugouensis sp. nov. Our examination of specimens from Burmese amber does not support the division of Notocupes into Notocupes s.s. and Echinocups. Therefore we treat Echinocups syn. nov. as a junior synonym of Notocupes, and N. ohmkuhnlei comb. rev., N. neli comb. rev. and N. denticollis comb. rev. are returned to Notocupes from Echinocups.

Cretaceous beetles of the Jinju Formation (Coleoptera): Archostemata

“…Brochocoleuslike elytra, e.g., those of Brochocoleus Hong, Jarzembowskiops Kirejtshuk, Burmocoleus Kirejtshuk, Limnomma Li & Cai and Stegocoleus Jarzembowski & Wang, typically have wider explanate epipleura, with at least two window cell rows even in the posterior half (Hong, 1982;Jarzembowski et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2017;Tihelka et al, 2020a;Li et al, 2020aLi et al, , 2021a. Polykius Kirejtshuk and Notocupes have narrower explanate epipleura, but with only one window cell row along the full length (Kirejtshuk, 2020;Strelnikova & Yan, 2021;Li et al, 2023a). The epipleura of Pareuryomma have two window cell rows in the anterior part, and narrow posteriorly with one window cell row, but the narrowing appears to be more gradual compared with that in Asiania (Tan et al, 2006).…”