FEATHER-WINGED BEETLE

any of the approximately 350 insect species of the widely distributed family Ptiliidae (Trichopterygidae) of the order Coleoptera, characterized by long fringes of hair on the long, narrow hindwings. Most feather-winged beetles are between 0.25 and 1 millimetre (0.01 to 0.04 inch) in length, although some members of the family range up to 2 millimetres. Feather-winged beetles live in rotting wood, fungi, manure, under bark, or in ant nests. Nanosella fungi, one of the smallest insects, lives in the New World Tropics; it is about 0.25 mm long.