Protocoleoptera

Protocoleoptera was originally proposed by Robert John Tillyard in 1924 for the extinct genus Protocoleus, assigned to the family Protocoleidae. Protocoleus is now considered a member of the extinct order Protelytroptera (a stem-group of the modern Dermaptera, the earwigs), which would make Protocoleoptera in this sense a synonym of the order.^[3] Roy Crowson later reused the name "Protocoleoptera" to refer to Early Permian beetles such as the Tshekardocoleidae, while establishing the Archecoleoptera for Late Permian beetles.^[4] Because Protocoleoptera in its original sense is a synonym of Protelytroptera, Cai et al. (2022) proposed a replacement name, Alphacoleoptera Engel, Cai & Tihelka, 2022.^[5] Some authors reject the use of Protocoleoptera and Archecoleoptera and include their members within a broad concept of the suborder Archostemata instead.^[3][6]

The taxonomic naming scheme of early beetles currently has no consensus, with several separate classification schemes proposed for higher level-clades within the stem-group.^[5][7] It is generally agreed that Tshekardocoleidae is the earliest diverging group among the major families.^[2][7]

• Coleoptera
  • †Coleopsis Kirejtshuk et al., 2014 (Early Permian)
  • †Tshekardocoleidae Rohdendorf, 1944 (Early Permian)
  • †Permocupedidae Martynov, 1933 (Early Permian–Middle Triassic)
  • †Taldycupedidae Rohdendorf, 1961 (Middle–Late Permian)
  • †Ademosynidae Ponomarenko, 1968 (Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous)
  • †Permosynidae Tillyard, 1924 (Middle Permian–Early Cretaceous, form family?)
  • †Rhombocoleidae Rohdendorf, 1961 (Middle Permian–Early Cretaceous)
  • †Triadocupedidae Ponomarenko, 1966 (Middle–Late Triassic)
  • †Asiocoleidae Rohdendorf, 1961 (Middle Permian–Jurassic)
  • †Peltosynidae Yan, Beutel & Ponomarenko, 2017 (Middle–Late Triassic)