Peltis
Family of beetles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peltis is a genus of beetles found in North America and Europe, and the sole extant member of the family Peltidae, formerly included in the Trogossitidae.[1][2][3][4] Members of this genus are dark, averaging from brown, to dark brown, to black. They are small, wide, and flat-bodied with wide, ridged elytra. Fossil species of this genus are known from the Eocene aged Florissant Formation of the United States, as well as the Baltic amber of Europe.
| Peltis Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
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| Peltis grossa | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Cucujiformia |
| Superfamily: | Cleroidea |
| Family: | Peltidae Latreille, 1806 |
| Genus: | Peltis Müller, 1764 |
| Synonyms | |
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Peltis larvae feed on fungal hypae growing inside rotting wood. Larvae grow for two to three years before becoming adults.[5][6]
Other species considered to belong to the family include Juralithinus from the Late Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan, and Palaeoendomychus from the Early Cretaceous aged Laiyang Formation, China.[7]
