Thoracotes

(Thoracotes dubius): “Ein 8 mm langer Käfer von ähnlicher Gestalt wie Parnidium Geinitzi. Der Prothorax is aber anders geformt un nähert sich mehr der Kreisform, Auch der Kopf scheint anders gewesen zu sein. Flügeldecken punktiert, 3,5 mal so lang als breit. Geinitz vergleicht diese Form mit Latridiites Schaumi, mit dem sie allerdings auch einige Ähnlichkeit hat.” This is potentially the oldest fossil record of Trogossitidae. Unfortunately, its description is inadequate and the illustration very poor. It is unclear to me why two more Mesozoic species from Russia were assigned to this dubious genus. It was not indicated in the original papers describing the two new species if the type of Thoracotes dubius was studied in situ (Ponomarenko 1985, 1990). The specimen appears to be housed in Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Germany. (A facsimile of the original description and illustration in Figs 24, 25.)

Germany: Dobbertin in Mecklenburg, Russia: central Siberia; Transbaikalia: Pavlovka, Onokhoy; Mesozoic: from Lower to Upper Jurassic.