Beetle
- For alternate meanings see: Beetle (disambiguation)
Beetles (Coleoptera) are one of the main groups of insects. The order Coleoptera has more species in it than any other order in the entire animal kingdom, followed closely by the butterflies, bees and wasps, and flies. 40% of all animal species are beetles (about 350,000 species), and every day new species are discovered.
The forewings of beetles are transformed into hard shells, called elytra. These elytra form an armour protecting the abdomen and the sensitive hindwings. The forewings are not used (at least not actively flapped) in flying, but they must (in most species) be raised in order to move the hindwings. After landing the hindwings are folded below the elytra. Most beetles can fly, but few reach the dexterity of some other groups, e.g. flies, and many species only fly if absolutely necessary. Some beetles have elytra that have grown together and cannot fly at all; a few have lost their wings altogether.
Beetles can be found in almost all biotopes, but are not known to occur in the sea or in the polar regions.
Beetles are endopterygotes with complete metamorphosis. The larva of a beetle is called a grub.
When J. B. S. Haldane, British physiologist and philosopher, was asked what his studies of nature revealed about God, he replied, "An inordinate fondness for beetles."
The study of beetles is called coleopterology, and its practioners coleopterists. See list of notable coleopterists.
Notable types
Well-known types of beetles include:
Subgroups
The extraordinary number of beetle species poses special problems for classification, with some families consisting of thousands of species and needing further division into subfamilies and tribes.
ORDER COLEOPTERA
- Suborder Archostemata Kolbe 1908
- Suborder Myxophaga Crowson 1955
- Suborder Adephaga Schellenberg 1806
- Suborder Polyphaga Emery 1886
Reference
Referenced By
Animal | Animal kingdom | Animalia | Atlas | Butterflies | Butterfly | Butterflys | Crawling water beetle | Evolutionary tree/Animalia | Haliplidae | Hydroscaphidae | Ichneumon wasp | Ichneumon wasps | Ichneumonidae | Ichneumonoidea | KingdomAnimalia | List of organic gardening and farming topics | List of organic gardening topics | Metazoa | Microsporidae | Minute bog beetle | Ohio | Organic garden | Organic gardener | Pollination | Pollinator | Rhysodidae | Rove beetle | Skiff beetle | Sphaerius | Sphaeriusidae | Staphylinidae | The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa | The Timon And Pumbaa Episode Guide | Timon And Pumbaa | Tree of life/Animalia | Wrinkled bark beetle
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