Archaeolupropini Nabozhenko, Perkovsky & Nazarenko, 2023, 1904

Aalbu, Rolf L., Kanda, Kojun, Merkl, Otto, Ivie, Michael A. & Johnston, M. Andrew, 2023, Reconstitution of some tribes and genera of Lagriinae (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae), ZooKeys 1172, pp. 155-202 : 155

Tribe Archaeolupropini Nabozhenko, Perkovsky & Nazarenko, 2023

Type genus.

Archaeoluprops Nabozhenko, Perkovsky & Nazarenko, 2023.

Note.

The tribe Archaeolupropini Nabozhenko, Perkovsky & Nazarenko, 2023 is transferred from Lagriinae to Tetratomidae : Tetratominae Billberg, 1820. This tribe was recently described for a single beetle preserved in Eocene amber ( Nabozhenko et al. 2023). This beetle was compared to several tribes of Lagriinae where it was found to not belong to any of them, and therefore was placed into a new tribe in the subfamily. Examination of the descriptions and excellent photographs in that paper demonstrate that this taxon clearly belongs within the family Tetratomidae .

Archaeoluprops groehni Nabozhenko, Perkovsky & Nazarenko, 2023 possesses the following characters consistent with Tetratomidae : the basal two ventrites connate with 3-5 articulated; antennal insertions visible from above; elongate and linear terminal maxillary palpomeres; vertical lateral aspect of the abdominal ventrites which fit beneath the elytra; paired depressions near the posterior pronotal margin; hind coxae elongate, not bounded laterally by the sides of the first abdominal ventrite. The images do not clearly show the procoxal closure, but it appears they could be open externally. The lack of elytral striae, shape of the scutellar shield, and general facies indicate that this species belongs in the nominate subfamily Tetratominae , though the available specimen does not allow for examination of antennal clubs or male genitalia which are the primary features currently used to separate tetratomid subfamilies ( Nikitsky 1998). Based upon the preponderance of evidence, we hereby transfer Archaeolupropini to Tetratomidae : Tetratominae and leave it there as a valid tribe in that subfamily pending further revision.