Coleoptera

Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described arthropods and 25% of all known animal species; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species.

Coleoptera

Bugboy52.40 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
beetlePBDB
Sits inside
ColeopteridaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 293 million years on record.

The record covers at least 293.52 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 12000 occurrencesPermian — about 218 of 12000 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 9 of 12000 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 138 of 12000 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 238 of 12000 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 410 of 12000 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 130 of 12000 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 879 of 12000 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 1025 of 12000 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 159 of 12000 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 127 of 12000 occurrencesEocene — about 2376 of 12000 occurrencesOligocene — about 538 of 12000 occurrencesMiocene — about 1110 of 12000 occurrencesPliocene — about 182 of 12000 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4398 of 12000 occurrences305–295 Mya — about 12 occurrences295–285 Mya — about 6 occurrences285–274 Mya — about 12 occurrences274–264 Mya — about 66 occurrences264–254 Mya — about 84 occurrences254–244 Mya — about 59 occurrences244–234 Mya — about 155 occurrences234–224 Mya — about 77 occurrences224–213 Mya — about 40 occurrences213–203 Mya — about 67 occurrences203–193 Mya — about 172 occurrences193–183 Mya — about 162 occurrences183–173 Mya — about 109 occurrences173–163 Mya — about 110 occurrences163–152 Mya — about 339 occurrences152–142 Mya — about 573 occurrences142–132 Mya — about 97 occurrences132–122 Mya — about 286 occurrences122–112 Mya — about 587 occurrences112–102 Mya — about 30 occurrences102–91 Mya — about 91 occurrences91–81 Mya — about 49 occurrences81–71 Mya — about 12 occurrences71–61 Mya — about 50 occurrences61–51 Mya — about 185 occurrences51–41 Mya — about 693 occurrences41–30 Mya — about 1667 occurrences30–20 Mya — about 507 occurrences20–10 Mya — about 915 occurrences10–0 Mya — about 4788 occurrences293.52 Mya11.7 ka305 Mya0 Mya

12,000+ occurrences of Coleoptera on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

12,000 occurrences read

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. The read hit its cap, so every figure above is a floor and the shares are of the occurrences read. More on what this infers.

Found in

at least 352 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WHighbury Silts and Sands — 51.56°N, 0.06°WKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EKap København — 82.47°N, 23.66°WKap København — 82.45°N, 24.10°WKap København — 82.32°N, 23.85°WKap København — 82.35°N, 24.05°WKap København — 82.46°N, 23.25°WKap København — 82.39°N, 24.18°WKap København — 82.35°N, 24.25°WKap København — 82.47°N, 23.60°WTitusville Till — 41.62°N, 79.64°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.11°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.40°WGreen River — 38.90°N, 109.20°WGreen River — 39.00°N, 108.00°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.23°N, 108.22°WGreen River — 39.63°N, 108.15°WGreen River — 40.03°N, 109.19°WGreen River — 41.52°N, 109.45°WGreen River — 41.84°N, 110.70°WGreen River — 40.03°N, 109.04°WGreen River — 39.72°N, 108.14°WYixian — 41.16°N, 119.31°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.42°N, 118.97°EYixian — 41.33°N, 119.13°EYixian — 41.75°N, 120.80°EYixian — 41.83°N, 121.13°EYixian — 41.10°N, 119.01°EYixian — 41.32°N, 119.34°EYixian — 42.74°N, 125.37°EOlympia beds — 47.66°N, 122.43°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.60°N, 7.25°ERott — 50.59°N, 7.24°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.75°EKeremesit — 69.50°N, 158.50°EKeremesit — 69.17°N, 158.12°EZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EZaza — 53.20°N, 112.82°EMadygen — 40.03°N, 70.25°EMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.00°N, 70.20°EEdoma — 69.50°N, 158.50°EOler — 69.50°N, 158.50°EPosidonia Shale — 52.35°N, 10.74°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°EPosidonia Shale — 52.05°N, 10.13°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.89°EScarborough — 43.70°N, 79.24°WScarborough — 43.67°N, 79.32°WSharteg — 44.14°N, 95.78°EDzun-Bain — 45.45°N, 99.13°EDzun-Bain — 44.75°N, 101.75°ETsubusagawa — 33.40°N, 131.35°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Coleoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. The read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 328 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 3,897 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

7,104 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 490 sites for Coleoptera, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

at least 1,226 references

Each of the 12,000 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. That read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 1,214 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Coleoptera

Credit
Bugboy52.40
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itColeopterida through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758