Ancient 113‑million‑year‑old beetle fossils uncovered in Brazil with 3D CT scanning

Brazilian and German scientists used micro‑computed tomography to examine three‑dimensional fossils of beetles that lived about 113 million years ago in the Crato Formation of Ceará. The fossils, recovered from the Araripe Basin, represent a previously unknown family of the ancient Archostemata group, named Cratocupedidae, with the type species Cratocupes scabrosus. The digital scanning revealed internal structures such as mouthparts, legs and thorax that are invisible on the rock surface, allowing a full anatomical description without damaging the specimens.

The discovery constitutes the first record of Archostemata in South America, filling a geographic gap in the early Cretaceous distribution of these insects and providing new insight into the tropical ecosystems of western Gondwana. Researchers involved include Gabriel Biffi (Museu de Zoologia, USP), Anderson Lepeco (UFRJ), and Rolf Beutel (Friedrich‑Schiller‑Universität Jena). The study was published in the journal Systematic Entomology.