''Syntelia'' is a genus of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s. It is the only genus in the family Synteliidae. There are seven known species, which are native to high-elevation regions in southern North America from central

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to Guatemala, and in eastern Asia, from India to Japan and eastern Russia. They are generally associated with rotting logs, typically found under bark, thought the Mexican species ''S. westwoodi'' has been found inside large decaying columnar cacti. Adults and larvae are predatory, feeding on insect larvae.Newton, Alfred F.. "Synteliidae Lewis, 1882: Coleoptera, Beetles". ''Handbook of Zoology Online'', edited by Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016. A fossil species, ''Syntelia sunwukong'', is known from the Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian) aged

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

of Myanmar. Adults are around in length. The characteristics of the family and genus include geniculate antennae with 3-segmented club, elongate body, narrowly separated coxae and tarsi with bisetose empodia. Only one

abdominal The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso ...

segment is exposed behind

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 ...

.Hansen, M. (1997). "Phylogeny and classification of the staphyliniform beetle families (Coleoptera)". ''Biologiske Skrifter''. 48, Copenhagen. The genus described by John O. Westwood in 1864, while the family was erected by

George Lewis George Lewis may refer to: Entertainment and art * George B. W. Lewis (1818–1906), circus rider and theatre manager in Australia * George E. Lewis (born 1952), American composer and free jazz trombonist * George J. Lewis (1903–1995), Mexica ...

in 1882. They are members of Histeroidea, which also includes clown beetles (

Histeridae Histeridae is a family of beetles commonly known as clown beetles or Hister beetles. This very diverse group of beetles contains 3,900 species found worldwide. They can be easily identified by their shortened elytra that leaves two of the seven ...

References

Histeroidea Staphyliniformia genera Taxa named by John O. Westwood {{Histeroidea-stub