Beetle
Early Eocene
Green River Formation – Parachute Creek Mbr.
Douglas Pass, Colorado, USA

Fine 0.4 inch beetle with color pattern.

Primitive beetles diverged from other insect groups in the Early Permian and perhaps as early as the Late Carboniferous.  They survived the end-Permian mass extinction with true beetles appearing and diversifying by the Late Triassic.  Most modern groups had appeared by the end of the Cretaceous.  Today, there are more than 300,000 species of beetles.  It is true that they are so varied that beetles account for almost one-fourth of all animal species.