Notocupes

{{short description|Extinct genus of beetles}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Ladinian|Turonian}}

| image = Notocupes habitus.jpg

| image_caption = Various specimens of Notocupes from the Middle Jurassic of China and mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

| taxon = Notocupes

| authority = Ponomarenko, 1964

| display_parents = 2

| synonyms = *Sinocupes {{small|Lin, 1976}}

• Chengdecupes {{small|Hong, 1983}}
• ?Conexicoxa {{small|Lin, 1986}}
• Echinocups {{small|Kirejtshuk and Jarzembowski, 2020}}
• Amblomma {{small|Tan et al., 2005}}
• Ovatocupes {{small|Tan and Ren, 2006}}

}}

Notocupes is an extinct genus of medium-sized archostematan beetles from the Mesozoic Era of Eurasia, including over 50 described species. Historically, the genus was classified as a member of the family Ommatidae, but the presence of characters such as the horizontal mandibular cutting edge, separated procoxae and overlapping abdominal sternites indicate that the genus may have a closer affinity with the family Cupedidae.{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yan-Da |last2=Tihelka |first2=Erik |last3=Yamamoto |first3=Shûhei |last4=Newton |first4=Alfred F. |last5=Xia |first5=Fang-Yuan |last6=Liu |first6=Ye |last7=Huang |first7=Di-Ying |last8=Cai |first8=Chen-Yang |date=2023-08-22 |title=Mesozoic Notocupes revealed as the sister group of Cupedidae (Coleoptera: Archostemata) |journal=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |volume=11 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2023.1015627 |issn=2296-701X|doi-access=free }} Notocupes is considered to be a junior synonym of Zygadenia by Kirejtshuk (2020),{{Cite journal |last=Kirejtshuk |first=Alexander G. |year=2020 |title=Taxonomic Review of Fossil Coleopterous Families (Insecta, Coleoptera). Suborder Archostemata: Superfamilies Coleopseoidea and Cupedoidea |journal=Geosciences |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=73 |doi=10.3390/geosciences10020073 |bibcode=2020Geosc..10...73K |issn=2076-3263 |doi-access=free}} but other researchers suggest to reserve the genus Zygadenia as a form taxon for isolated elytra that probably belong to the genus Notocupes, while retaining Notocupes as a valid genus for complete body fossils.{{cite journal|last1=Strelnikova|first1=O.D.|last2=Yan|first2=E.V.|year=2021|title=Redescriptions of beetles of the Notocupes generic complex (Coleoptera: Archostemata: Ommatidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Buryatia|journal=Palaeoentomology|volume=4|issue=5|pages=499–514|doi=10.11646/palaeoentomology.4.5.15|s2cid=240527664 |url=http://treatment.plazi.org/GgServer/summary/CB3FFFAC9132FFE2183F0445FF8DFF92|url-access=subscription}}{{cite journal|last1=Strelnikova|first1=O.D.|last2=Yan|first2=E.V.|year=2023|title=Redescriptions of the Triassic Notocupes beetles (Archostemata: Ommatidae) from Kyrgyzstan and South Kazakhstan|journal=Palaeoentomology|volume=6|issue=2|pages=174–190|doi=10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.2.9|s2cid=258403180 |url=https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/summary/4F27FFD5FFA0FFE11A50FF98FFDD191C|url-access=subscription}}{{cite journal|author1=Soo Bin Lee|author2=Gi Soo Nam|author3=Yan-Da Li|title=A new species of Notocupes (Coleoptera: Archostemata) from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Jinju Formation in South Korea|journal=Cretaceous Research|volume=140|year=2022|page=105357|doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105357|bibcode=2022CrRes.14005357L |s2cid=252147645 }} Most species of Notocupes were described from compression fossils. An additional three species were described from Cenomanian-aged Burmese amber, which were treated as a separate genus, Echinocups, by Kirejtshuk (2020), but Li et al. (2023) consider Echinocups to be a junior synonym of Notocupes.{{Cite journal|last1=Li |first1=Y.-D. |last2=Tihelka |first2=E. |last3=Newton |first3=A. F. |last4=Huang |first4=D.-Y. |last5=Cai |first5=C.-Y. |title=New species of Notocupes (Coleoptera: Archostemata) from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds, with discussion on the generic circumscription |year=2023 |journal=Palaeoentomology |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=398–415 |doi=10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.4.11 |doi-access=free }} Notocupes has a flattened body, which may suggest that it occupied narrow habitats, such as living under bark. Some species had serrated/spined margins of the carapace, which may have served as a defense against predators, or served as camouflage to resemble bark.

Strelnikova & Yan (2023) advise splitting up the genus Notocupes into four genera: Notocupes, Rhabdocupes, Conexicoxa and the new genus Brachilatus.{{cite journal|last1=Strelnikova|first1=O.D.|last2=Yan|first2=E.V.|year=2023|title=On splitting of the genus Notocupes (Coleoptera: Archostemata): new data on morphology and taxonomy|journal=Far Eastern Entomologist|volume=488|pages=1–28|doi=10.25221/fee.488.1|doi-access=free}}