Olomouc scientists help to discover unknown beetle deep in Chilean soil

An international team of scientists from the Czech Republic, Canada and Spain has discovered a previously unknown beetle living deep underground in central Chile. The tiny insect, measuring less than one millimetre, is blind and wingless. Genetic analysis by researchers from the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute at Palacký University Olomouc confirmed that it belongs to an entirely new beetle family, named Badmaateridae. According to entomologist Ladislav Bocák, the lineage dates back around 220 million years to the late Triassic period. The beetle was found during the World Soil Fauna Project using advanced DNA techniques.