Description

Late Triassic
Aranbanga Volcanic Group
Windera Creek, Near Murgon, Queensland, Australia
11mm beetle on 32mm slab.

Insect. Arthropod. Coleoptera.

Here’s an ancient beetle from an area better-known for Eocene vertebrates. You should get one of these.

The ancestors of beetles (Order Coleoptera) diverged from other insect groups in the Early Permian.  They survived the end-Permian mass extinction with true beetles appearing and diversifying by the Late Triassic.

Today, beetles account for almost 40% of all insect species and over 25% of all animal species.