Notocupes tenuis Ponomarenko 1969
Creators: name: STRELNIKOVA, OLESYA D.
name: YAN, EVGENY V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Ommatidae
Notocupes
Notocupes tenuis

description: Notocupes tenuis Ponomarenko, 1969
(Figs 4–7)
Notocupes tenuis Ponomarenko, 1969: 91.
Material. Holotype and seven paratypes PIN 2240 /21, 26, 30, 118, 327, 2555/1683, 1685 parts and counterparts of body without antennae and most of the legs.
Holotype. PIN 2240 /37, part and counterpart of almost complete body, Dzhayloucho locality, Kyrgyzstan, Osh Province, Batken region, Middle-Upper Triassic, Madygen Formation.
Diagnosis. Body densely covered with uniform circular tubercles. Antennae do not reach beyond base of pronotum. Head with pair of large pointed tubercles above eyes (Figs 4B, D, 5B, D, p.t). Anterior angles of pronotum do not protrude anteriorly. Procoxae at pronotum basal third. Elytral main veins differing only slightly from intercalary ones; up to 30 cells in one row.
Description. Cuticular tubercle size 0.01–0.04 mm, space between adjacent tubercles 0.01–0.02; density of cuticular sculpture 560–830 tubercles per mm².
Head slightly narrowing in front and behind eyes, neck constriction absent. Eyes large, distinctly protruding laterally. Head length in front of eyes much shorter than eye length, length behind eyes equal to eye length. Eyes close to mandibular bases. Eye length 0.3–0.4 mm, transverse diameter 0.1; head to eye width ratio 4.8–4.9. Pair of large pointed tubercles above eyes (Figs 4B, D, 5B, D, p.t). Head protuberances forming two longitudinal elevations (Fig. 4B, D). Clypeolabrum angular, slightly protruding forward. Mandibles large, protruding forward, straight, with apices slightly curved inwards, with at least two apical denticles. Scapus 2× as wide and 1.5× as long as pedicellus; 3 rd antennomere slightly longer than scapus; pedicellus and 4 th antennomere of subequal size; other antennal segments of equal size.
Pronotum transverse, weakly narrowing anteriorly, with anterior margin concave; pronotal disc with pair of oval medial elevations and with furrow between them. Pleurosternal suture straight; propleuron narrowing anteriorly.
Elytron with main veins almost indistinguishable from intercalary ones. Elytral base straight, humerus distinct (Fig. 4B). Outer margin curves gradually, elytral apex wide; epipleuron gradually narrowing along its length, width at the elytron base to at the elytral apex is 6.3, elytron to epipleuron maximum width ratio 8. Four main veins in addition to one vein separating epipleuron and one sutural vein. Veins 3 and 4 merging together three cells before reaching elytral apex; veins 1 and 2 reaching elytral apex, with common stem one cell before humerus. Elytral cells oval, middle-sized, occupying about half distance between veins, clearly not reaching vein borders. Cells at elytral base less prominent, often indistinct. Field I with no cells, other fields with double rows of cells. Cells in field III 25–30, field IV 27–30, field V 23–27, field VI 25–30, field VII 4.
Measurements (in mm).
Note: * as preserved
Metaventrite wider than long; posterior margin width 1.8× that of anterior margin. Рaracoxal suture approximate to but not merging with posterior margin of metaventrite.
Abdomen not narrowing at base,narrowing posteriorly at level of sternite IV, abdominal apex wide and rounded. Sternites length ratio is 1.9:1:1:1:1.8.
Metacoxae strongly transverse, laterally reaching epipleuron, longer than sternite I.
Remarks. Differs from other Triassic species in smaller sizes, but similar to them in having dense, uniform cuticular tubercles. Similar to N. laticella in head protuberances forming two longitudinal elevations; procoxae not close to pronotal posterior margin, and main veins almost indistinguishable from intercalary ones, but differs from it in smaller and more abundant elytral cells and in pronotal shape narrowing in anterior half. Similar to N. laticella and N. rostratus in antennal bases covered by the supraantennal protuberance. Differs from other species of Notocupes in having fore pronotal angles not protruding.
Anterior and posterior tentorial pits could be observed in the counterpart (Fig. 6F, аT, Figs 5D, 6C, pT).
description: Published as part of STRELNIKOVA, OLESYA D. & YAN, EVGENY V., 2023, Redescriptions of the Triassic Notocupes beetles (Archostemata: Ommatidae) from Kyrgyzstan and South Kazakhstan, pp. 174-190 in Palaeoentomology 6 (2) on pages 181-184, DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.2.9, http://zenodo.org/record/7929106