Ommatidae

The Ommatidae are a family of beetles in the suborder Archostemata. The Ommatidae are considered the extant beetle family that has most ancestral characteristics. There are only seven extant species, confined to Australia and South America. However, the geographical distribution was much wider during the Mesozoic spanning across Eurasia and Australia, suggesting that they were widespread on Pangea. So far, over 26 extinct genera containing over 170 species of these beetles have been described. Three extant genera have been assigned to this family: Omma, Tetraphalerus and Beutelius. The family

Omma is a genus of beetles in the family Ommatidae. Omma is an example of a living fossil. The oldest species known, O. liassicum, lived during the final stage of the Triassic (Rhaetian), over 200 million years ago, though the placement of this species in Omma has been questioned. Numerous other fossil species are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. The only living species is Omma stanleyi, which is endemic to Australia. Three other extant species endemic to Australia that were formerly part of this genus were moved to the separate genus Beutelius in 2020. Omma stanleyi

Tetraphalerus is a genus of beetles in the family Ommatidae, It is currently known from two extant species native to South America and several fossil species from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Asia.

Paraodontomma is an extinct genus of ommatid beetle, it is known from three species, P. burmiticum described in 2017, P. szwedoi described in 2018. and P. leptocristatum in 2021. All 3 species are known from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber.

Blapsium is an extinct genus of beetles from the Middle Jurassic of England. The only described species is B. egertoni, which was first described by John O. Westwood in 1854. The species is known from a single specimen found by the Earl of Enniskillen in the Stonesfield Slate, now known as part of the Taynton Limestone Formation, which Sir Philip Egerton then passed to Westwood for description. The specimen is deposited in the Natural History Museum, London. It is incompletely preserved, lacking a head, pronotum and legs. It has a broad, convex body. It has a very short metathorax, which sugge

Beutelius is a small genus of ommatid beetles native to Australia. It is only one of three extant genera in the family, alongside Tetraphalerus and Omma. It currently contains four species, three of which were originally assigned to Omma, and it is distinguished from Omma by the presence of flattened, ribbed scales covering most areas, as well as longer maxillary and labial palps, and an anteriorly depressed gulamentum.