Protocoleoptera

Protocoleoptera Temporal range: Asselian–Anisian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
(A, B) Moravocoleus permianus (Tshekardocoleidae) (C,D) Permocupes sojanensis () (E) Tshekardocoleidae, Sylvacoleus richteri (F) , Taldycupes reticulatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	†Protocoleoptera Tillyard, 1924
Superfamilies
see text

The Protocoleoptera are a paraphyletic group of beetles, containing the earliest and most primitive lineages of beetles. They represented the dominant group of beetles during the Permian, but were largely replaced by modern beetle groups during the following Triassic. Protocoleopterans typically possess prognathous (horizontal) heads, distinctive elytra with regular window punctures, culticles with tubercles or scales, as well as a primitive pattern of ventral sclerites, similar to the modern archostematan families Ommatidae and Cupedidae. They are thought to have been xylophagous and wood boring.^[1][2]

Taxonomy[]

†Superfamily Tshekardocoleoidea Rohdendorf, 1944

†Tshekardocoleidae Rohdendorf, 1944 (Early Permian)

† Ponomarenko, 1969

† Kukalová, 1969

†Superfamily Permocupedoidea Martynov, 1933

†Permocupedidae Martynov, 1933 (Early Permian-Middle Triassic)

† Rohdendorf, 1961 (Middle-Late Permian)

†Superfamily Permosynoidea Tillyard, 1924

† Ponomarenko, 1968

†Permosynidae Tillyard, 1924

References[]

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