Blapsium is an extinct genus of beetles from the Middle Jurassic of England.[1][2] The only described species is B. egertoni,[3] which is known from a single specimen found by the Earl of Enniskillen at the Taynton Limestone Formation, also known as the Stonesfield Slate.[4] The specimen is deposited in the Natural History Museum, London. It is incompletely preserved, lacking a head, pronotum and legs. It has a broad, convex body. It has a very short metathorax, which suggests that it was possibly apterous.[1][5]
| Blapsium Temporal range: Middle Jurassic,
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| John O. Westwood's figure of Blapsium egertoni | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Ommatidae |
| Genus: | †Blapsium Westwood, 1854 |
| Species: | †B. egertoni
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| Binomial name | |
| †Blapsium egertoni Westwood, 1854
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| Synonyms | |
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In his original description of the genus, John O. Westwood compared Blapsium to the darkling beetles and ground beetles.[3] Ponomarenko (2006) redescribed the holotype of B. egertoni and referred it to the tribe Notocupedini in the family Ommatidae (considered in the paper to be a subfamily of Cupedidae), which was followed by Kirejtshuk (2020).[1][5]
References
edit- ^ a b c Ponomarenko, A. G. (2006). "On the Types of Mesozoic Archostematan Beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Archostemata) in the Natural History Museum, London". Paleontological Journal. 40 (1): 90–99. doi:10.1134/S0031030106010102.
- ^ Walker, Cyril Alexander; Ward, David (2002-01-01). Fossils. DK. p. 78. ISBN 9780789489845.
- ^ a b Westwood, J. O. (1854). "Contributions to fossil entomology". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. 10: 378–396.
- ^ United States Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1892-01-01.
- ^ a b Kirejtshuk, Alexander G. (2020-02-17). "Taxonomic Review of Fossil Coleopterous Families (Insecta, Coleoptera). Suborder Archostemata: Superfamilies Coleopseoidea and Cupedoidea". Geosciences. 10 (2): 73. Bibcode:2020Geosc..10...73K. doi:10.3390/geosciences10020073. ISSN 2076-3263.
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