''Peltis'' is a genus of beetles found in North America and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and the sole extant member of the family Peltidae, formerly included in the

Trogossitidae Trogossitidae, also known as bark-gnawing beetles, are a small family in the superfamily Cleroidea. Many taxa formerly within this family have been removed (as of 2019) to other families, such as Lophocateridae, Peltidae, Protopeltidae, Rentoni ...

.Gimmel, M.L., Bocakova, M., Gunter, N.L. and Leschen, R.A. (2019) Comprehensive phylogeny of the Cleroidea (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia). Syst Entomol, 44: 527-558. 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 An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

. Fossil species of this genus are known from the Eocene aged

Florissant Formation The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation outcropping around Florissant, Teller County, Colorado. The formation is noted for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones an ...

of the United States, as well as the

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than ...

of Europe. ''Peltis'' larvae feed on fungal hypae growing inside rotting wood. Larvae grow for two to three years before becoming adults. Other species considered to belong to the family include '' Juralithinus'' from the Late Jurassic

Karabastau Formation The Karabastau Formation ( kk, Qarabastaý svıtasy) is a geological formation and lagerstätte in the Karatau Mountains of southern Kazakhstan whose strata date to the Middle to Late Jurassic. It is an important locality for insect fossils that ...

of Kazakhstan, and '' Palaeoendomychus'' from the Early Cretaceous aged

Laiyang Formation Laiyang city () is a county-level city within Yantai bordering Qingdao, located in the middle of the Shandong Peninsula, in Shandong province, China. The majority (70%) of its population are farmers and it is famous for producing the Laiyang pe ...

, China.

References

Cleroidea genera {{Cleroidea-stub