Is the floating beetle elytra phenomenon real?

The claim that beetle elytra can levitate is false. According to the law of universal gravitation, any object with mass always exerts mutual attraction, and unlike electric charges there is no same-pole repulsion, so anti-gravity levitation simply does not exist.

The floating beetle elytra seen in some videos are most likely faked using thin threads combined with Photoshop editing, and there is no scientific basis for them. If you are curious, you can try manipulating real beetle wings yourself a few times to see whether you get a similar result.