''Protopeltis'' is a genus of beetles. It contains two species native to New Zealand. It was formerly considered a member of

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, Rentoniid ...

, but is currently placed as the only member of the family Protopeltidae within the

Cleroidea Cleroidea is a small superfamily of beetles containing over 10,000 species. Most of the members of the group are somewhat slender, often with fairly soft, flexible elytra, and typically hairy or scaly. Description Cleroidea is defined by the ...

. The larvae have been collected from the fungus infested bark of dead ''

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gu ...

'' trees. Adult gut contents indicate that they are

mycophagous Fungivory or mycophagy is the process of organisms consuming fungi. Many different organisms have been recorded to gain their energy from consuming fungi, including birds, mammals, insects, plants, amoebas, gastropods, nematodes, bacteria and othe ...

, feeding on probably ''

Hymenochaete ''Hymenochaete'' is a genus of fungi in the family Hymenochaetaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in tropical regions. The name probably means ''long-haired membrane'' from the Greek ''hymen'' meaning ''membrane'' and ''ch ...

'' fungi. This is also presumably true for the larvae.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q18592515, from2=Q110816958 Cleroidea genera Beetles described in 1964