Wongaroo, Oberprieler, Rolf G., Ashman, Lauren G., Frese, Michael & Ślipiński, Adam, 2016

Oberprieler, Rolf G., Ashman, Lauren G., Frese, Michael & Ślipiński, Adam, 2016, The first elateroid beetles (Coleoptera: Polyphaga: Elateroidea) from the Upper Jurassic of Australia, Zootaxa 4147 (2), pp. 177-191 : 179-181

Genus Wongaroo gen. n.

Type species: Wongaroo amplipectorale sp. n.

Description. Body elongate, approximately 3 times longer than wide. Head small, largely covered by prothorax in dorsal view. Antennae 11-segmented, moniliform, with scape short and subglobular, pedicel small, segments 3–8 elongate obconical, 9–11 seemingly subcylindrical and approximated to each other. Prothorax subquadrate; pronotum strongly convex but posteriorly declivous; anterior margin indistinct, lateral margins rounded with complete lateral carina, posterolateral angles not projecting, posterior margin indistinct but almost straight; deep transverse groove indicated in front of posterior margin. Scutellar shield small, subtriangular. Elytra flat dorsally, sharply declivous laterally, apex subacute; each with 9 striae of deep cell-like punctures extending from base to apex, diminishing in size towards apex; striae 1–6 on disc, with approximately 47–49 punctures each, striae 7–9 on lateral declivity, striae 1–4 arising from very deep basal pits, pits of 2–4 behind prominent transverse callus at base of elytron; intervals 3 and 4 confluent at apical fifth of length, then interval 2 confluent with combined interval before apex. Metaventrite broad, transverse, with fine, long discrimen; mesocoxae subcircular in outline, distinctly separated by processes of meso- and metaventrite meeting between them. Metacoxae large, narrowly separate, without coxal plates; metatrochanters not elongate; metafemora apparently slender; metatibiae straight, expanding towards apex. Abdomen with five ventrites, 1 and 2 elongate and seemingly fused, 3 and probably 4 and 5 free, sutures fine and complete.

Name derivation. The genus is named after the Wonga Roo Road (also spelled Wongaroo ), which leads to the Talbragar Fish Bed site; the gender of the name is neuter. There is also a mystical creature called the wongaroo, whose existence, in the neighbourhood of Cooper’s Creek, was described by Mueller (1865: 301) as follows: “The tracks of a large animal of the kangaroo tribe, called by the natives Wongaroo , were frequently seen, and a few of the animals themselves; but they did not come within shooting-distance. They are much larger than the kangaroo, and it was calculated they would sometimes weigh 4 or 5 cwts.; some of them were jet black, others brown with dark spots; they are less swift than the kangaroo, but jump perpendicularly from one rock to another, often to the height of 8 or 10 feet. They ascend a mountain at a rate at which neither man nor dog can follow them.”. In the bliss of the British Imperial System of measurements, a British (or long) hundredweight (cwt.) equals 112 pounds, or 50.8 kg. At 4–5 cwts., the wongaroo thus weighs 203–254 kg, about four times as much as an average Red Kangaroo (65 kg), the largest extant species of kangaroos, and about as much as a small (young) cow. Jumping vertically to a height of about 3 m at such bulk truly makes for a mythical creature!

Remarks. Wongaroo is assigned to the superfamily Elateroidea because of its overall shape, in particular the convex, posteriorly angled pronotum obscuring the head in dorsal view and the relatively long, pointed elytra and slender legs. In this superfamily, its convex pronotum with indicated lateral carinae, basal groove and nonprojecting posterolateral angles, its 9-striate elytra (no scutellary striole) with deep basal pits and the absence of metacoxal plates indicate that it belongs in the family Cerophytidae . From the four extant cerophytid genera Wongaroo differs in having the antennae uniformly moniliform, not serrate or pectinate (as in Cerophytum ; Figs. 7– 8 ), and in not having the metatrochanters distinctly elongate. The three extinct genera classified in Cerophytidae , Aphytocerus , Baissophytum and Necromera , differ from Wongaroo mainly in possessing elongate trochanters and metacoxal plates, although Baissophytum and some Necromera species also have short trochanters ( Chang et al. 2011a, b) and Aphytocerus has only small metacoxal plates ( Zherikhin 1977). The elytral punctures of Wongaroo appear large and subrectangular, almost clathrate, but this condition also occurs in several other Talbragar beetle fossils and evidently is a fossilisation artefact, representing the larger ventral shape of the elytral cells ( Fig. 4 ) or these being compressed into the smaller dorsal punctures. Some cerophytid fossils, such as Baissophytum convexum Chang, Kirejtshuk & Ren, 2011 and Necromera admiranda Chang & Kirejtshuk, 2011 ( Chang et al. 2011a, b), show similarly large punctures.

The names of the two species of Baissophytum are misspelled in the original publication ( Chang et al. 2011a), as B. amplus and B. convexus , violating Art. 31.2. of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (agreement in gender between adjectival species names and their genus names) because the name Baissophytum is neuter in gender and the adjectival forms amplus and convexus are masculine. These species names are here corrected to B. amplum and B. convexum , following Art. 32.4. of the Code.

Figures

FIGURES 5 – 8. Wongaroo amplipectorale gen. et sp. n. and Cerophytum elateroides (Latreille, 1804). 5, Wongaroo amplipectorale, holotype, combined drawing of part and counterpart; 6, Wongaroo amplipectorale, paratype, drawing; 7, Cerophytum elateroides, dorsal habitus; 8, Cerophytum elateroides, ventral habitus. Scale bars 1 mm.

FIGURES 1 – 4. Wongaroo amplipectorale gen. et sp. n. 1, holotype, part (AM F. 140884); 2, holotype, counterpart (AM F. 140885); 3, holotype, part, antennae and thorax enlarged (AM F. 140884); 4, paratype (AM F. 110530). Scale bars 1 mm.