''Coleopsis'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

stem-group In phylogenetics, the crown group or crown assemblage is a collection of species composed of the living representatives of the collection, the most recent common ancestor of the collection, and all descendants of the most recent common ancestor. ...

beetles. It contains a single species, ''Coleopsis archaica'', and is the only member of the family Coleopsidae. It is known from a single specimen from the Early

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

(

Asselian In the geologic timescale, the Asselian is the earliest geochronologic age or lowermost chronostratigraphic stage of the Permian. It is a subdivision of the Cisuralian Epoch or Series. The Asselian lasted between and million years ago (Ma ...

) Meisenheim Formation of western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, estimated to be about 297 million years old. It is currently the oldest known beetle.

Taxonomy and systematics

While originally interpreted as a member of the family

Tshekardocoleidae Tshekardocoleidae is an extinct family of stem group beetles, known from the Permian. They represent some of the earliest known beetles. They first appeared during the Cisuralian, before becoming extinct at the beginning of the Guadalupian. A clai ...

, this interpretation has been revised and questioned, with the most recent analyses suggesting that it is best placed in its own family, and may be the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to all other beetles. The family name was originally published in 2016 as "Coleopsidae" but a later publication claimed that this spelling was erroneous and proposed the spelling "Coleopseidae"; however, under the

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...

, Article 29.4, family-rank names originally published after 1999 are not subject to emendation because of incorrect spelling, so Coleopsidae would be maintained as the correct original spelling.ICZN Code
29.4. Acceptance of originally formed stem. If after 1999 a new family-group name is based on a generic name which is or ends in a Greek or Latin word or ends in a Greek or Latin suffix, but its derivation does not follow the grammatical procedures of Articles 29.3.1 or 29.3.2, its original spelling must be maintained as the correct original spelling

References

Notes

Tshekardocoleoidea

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Asselian genera Permian insects Permian arthropods of Europe Cisuralian animals of Europe Paleozoic insects of Europe Fossil beetle genera Monotypic prehistoric insect genera {{paleo-beetle-stub