Cupedidae Explained

The Cupedidae are a small family of beetles, notable for the square pattern of "windows" on their elytra (hard forewings), which give the family their common name of reticulated beetles.^[1]

The family consists of about 30 species in 9 genera, with a worldwide distribution. Many more extinct species are known, dating as far back as the Triassic.^[1] The family Ommatidae is considered a subfamily of Cupedidae by some authors, but ommatids have been found to more closely related to Micromalthidae in genomic analysis studies.^[2]

These beetles tend to be elongated with a parallel-sided body, ranging in length from, with colors brownish, blackish, or gray. The larvae are wood-borers, typically living in fungus-infested wood, and sometimes found in wood construction.^[1] The larvae eat the fungus-infested dead wood or tree roots while the adults are believed to subsist on pollen and plant sap.^[3]

Males of Priacma serrata (western North America) are notable for being strongly attracted to common household bleach. This suggests that compounds in bleach may resemble attractive compounds found by the beetle in nature.^[1]

Taxonomy

• Adinolepis – Australia
• Ascioplaga – New Caledonia, Australia
• Cupes – Europe, China, Paleogene; North America, Recent
• Distocupes – Australia
• Paracupes – South America
• Priacma – Myanmar, Cretaceous; North America, Recent
• Prolixocupes – North America, South America
• Rhipsideigma – Madagascar, East Africa
• Tenomerga – East and Southeast Asia, New Guinea, North America, South Africa

Fossil genera

After Kirejtshuk, Nel and Kirejtshuk (2016).^[4]

• †Anaglyphites – Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Late Jurassic (Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian), Shar-Teg, Mongolia, Late Jurassic (Tithonian), Hengshan Formation, China, Dzun-Bain Formation, Mongolia, Zaza Formation, Russia, Early Cretaceous (Aptian)
• †"Anaglyphites" pluricavus – La Pedrera de Rúbies Formation, Spain, Early Cretaceous (Barremian)
• †Apriacma – Yixian Formation, China, Aptian
• †Asimma – Madygen Formation, Kyrgyzstan, Late Triassic
• †Barbaticupes – Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
• †Cainomerga – Menat Formation, France, Paleocene
• †Cretomerga – Yixian Formation, China, Aptian
• †Cupopsis – New Jersey amber, Late Cretaceous (Turonian)
• †Cupidium – Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian
• †Ensicupes – Dalazi Formation, Guyang Formation, China, Aptian
• †Furcicupes – Yixian Formation, China, Aptian
• †Gracilicupes – Daohugou, China, Middle Jurassic (Callovian)
• †Kirghizocupes – Madygen Formation, Kyrgyzstan, Late Triassic
• †Latocupes – Yixian Formation, China, Aptian
• †Mallecupes – Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Menatops – Menat Formation, France, Paleocene
• †Mesocupes – Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Oxfordian, Las Hoyas, Spain, Barremian
• †Miocupes – Cypris Formation, Czech Republic, Miocene
• †"Platycupes" sogdianus – Madygen Formation, Kyrgyzstan, Late Triassic
• †"Priacma" sanzii – Las Hoyas, Spain, Barremian
• †Priacmopsis – Zaza Formation, Russia, Aptian
• †Pterocupes – Madygen Formation, Kyrgyzstan, Late Triassic
• †Taxopsis – Baltic amber, Eocene

Notocupes, traditionally considered a member of Ommatidae, has been suggested to be more closely related to Cupedidae via cladistic analysis.^[5]

External links

• Tree of Life
• Web site: Cupedidae . Atlas of Living Australia .

Notes and References

1. Book: Arthur V. . Evans . James N. . Hogue . Family Groups: Reticulated Beetles Cupedidae . Field Guide to Beetles of California . https://books.google.com/books?id=FbUwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 . 15 November 2006 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-24657-7 . 51–.
2. McKenna. Duane D.. Shin. Seunggwan. Ahrens. Dirk. Balke. Michael. Beza-Beza. Cristian. Clarke. Dave J.. Donath. Alexander. Escalona. Hermes E.. Friedrich. Frank. Letsch. Harald. Liu. Shanlin. 2019-12-03. The evolution and genomic basis of beetle diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. en. 116. 49. 24729–24737. 10.1073/pnas.1909655116. 0027-8424. 6900523. 31740605. free. 2019PNAS..11624729M .
3. Jarzembowski. Edmund A.. Wang. Bo. Zheng. Daran. 2017-10-01. A new spiny reticulated beetle (Coleoptera: Cupedidae) from Cretaceous Burmese amber. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. en. 128. 5. 798–802. 10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.07.003. 2017PrGA..128..798J . 0016-7878.
4. Kirejtshuk. A. G.. Nel. A.. Kirejtshuk. P. A.. October 2016. Taxonomy of the reticulate beetles of the subfamily Cupedinae (Coleoptera, Archostemata), with a review of the historical development. Invertebrate Zoology. ru. 13. 1. 61–190. 10.15298/invertzool.13.2.01. 1812-9250. free.
5. Li . Yan-Da . Tihelka . Erik . Yamamoto . Shûhei . Newton . Alfred F. . Xia . Fang-Yuan . Liu . Ye . Huang . Di-Ying . Cai . Chen-Yang . 2023-08-22 . Mesozoic Notocupes revealed as the sister group of Cupedidae (Coleoptera: Archostemata) . Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution . 11 . 10.3389/fevo.2023.1015627 . 2296-701X. free .