Beetles have been around for over 270 million years and are one of the most diverse insects to roam the Earth and come in all shapes, sizes and colors. There are 350,000 different species of beetles throughout the world and more yet to be discovered. They make up for twenty-five percent of all living things; There are so many of them because of their ability to adapt to any type of environment and live in almost every habitat except for polar regions or the ocean. Beetles are usually around habitats that are especially dry.
They got their name Coleoptera from the Greek words ‘koleos’ which means sheath or shield because of their hard exoskeleton and ‘ptera’ which means wings. The order Coleoptera can be distinguished by a variety of things. One key point that all other insects do not have is a hardened forewings called Elytra. The mouthparts of Coleoptera are mandibulate and used for biting and chowing. coleoptera will have antennae present in various structures.
The eye for Coleoptera is compound but will not be identical to every other insect in this order. oleoptera,beetles, appear to have only two segments when you look at the from above an abdomen and a horax ,but if you catch one an flip it over you can see that the elytra covers one of the segments making the two look like one. Like many insects, beetles reproduce making larvae. Larvae in some species of coleoptera are labeled as grubs, wireworms and rootworms. Often the eggs of coleoptera are laid on or are near a food source. As the female lays her eggs she uses ovipositor which is used to place the eggs into the right position. It will take approximitly three weeks for the eggs to hatch.
Eggs that are hatched will depend on the species but after they hatch the larvae goes through stages called instar. The coleoptera larvae only have three stages so they will molt twice in the first and second stage. In the thrid step they will stay about a year fattening up. In the pupation stage after it’s fully grown it will stop eating and go in the soil where it will make a cocoon. It well molt going through metamorphosis this cocoon is held together by special larvae secretions and it is lined in with their gut content. Finally after a couple of months it will emerge and fly into the world.
Some beetles in the world today have also been around since the dinosaurs still roamed the Earth or perhaps even longer. 9% of beetle families that have ever existed are still alive today. Their abilities to adapt to their environments are the reason they have survived for so long. Because they start off as soft-bodied larvae and armored, winged adults it is easier for them to live in any environment and have the advantage of living in different types of habitats that they are exposed to. The North American Burying Beetle also called Giant Carrion Beetle is in danger of becoming extinct.
They can be identified by its black shell and orange-red markings. They got their name because they feed on dead nimals because they are carnivorous; they can smell one from as far as two miles away. They work together to bury their food at night, because they are nocturnal, so other hungry animals won’t feed on their findings. The female burying beetle then lays her eggs on top of the burial and waits for them to hatch. When the larvae are born she feeds them the food they have already eaten themselves until their larvae are old enough to eat for themselves. The adult Carrion Beetle can range from 1 to 1. inches in size.
Male Carrion beetles can be identified by a large range facial spot in the middle of their antennae as opposed to the females who have a smaller spot. It is not know as to why they are becoming extinct but the large amount of pesticides being used can be responsible for their disappearance in certain areas. They live in North America and usually reside in grasslands or oak hickory forests. The Asian Longhorned Beetle also known as the Sky Beetle because of its shell’s pattern is an invasive type of species of that kill deciduous trees but are harmless to animals and humans. They grow to be 1 to 1. inches long and have bullet-shaped bodies.
They are black with white spots, which is how they got their name. They also have extremely long antennae that are usually longer than their entire body and banded black and white. They were accidentally introduced in America in 1996 through wood packed material and can only be found in the eastern part of the United States but are originally from Eastern Asia. They feed on living tree tissue and will disrupt it until it dies. Psephenidae or the Water Penny Beetle is an aquatic beetle. They are called water pennies because their larvae is round and flat, and they can be a pale amber color.
Water Penny Beetles an range in color all the way from pale amber to shades of black. Water Penny Beetles are tiny, larvae are The Bombardier Beetle is commonly known for their ability to detonate chemicals out of their body at extreme boiling temperatures and has a bad smell; it does not kill you but can cause severe pain. Chemicals inside their body are used as protectors from their predators and can be squirted from their abdomen and rotate 270 degrees with the chemicals released feeling as hot as 212 degrees fahrenheit. Their elytra is a blue-green color and their legs, thorax, and head are a red-orange color.
Bombardier Beetles are mainly carnivorous, but also feed on smaller insects at night because they are nocturnal. They can mainly be found in dry and sunny areas under rocks, but can also be found in grasslands and field margins; they reside mainly in North Africa and Europe. Even though they have elytra, they are incapable of flying, that is why the chemicals their body releases is essential for their survival. Shining Flower Beetles can be found in flowers and are around 2mm in length. As the name of the Sugar Maple Borer Beetle suggest the maple tree is the host of this beetle.
The start of their life cycle starts as eggs in size being 3 millimeters in length. The colors that are associated with this insect are yellow and black. The adult hood size is 50mm long. These beetle has “a prominent W design appearing on the wing covers”(Hoffard and Marshall) but also have “yellow legs and two black dots near the end of the wing covers”(Hoffard and Marshall). The life span of this beetle is only two years. The eggs will be laid in the midsummer. Finally hatching in the winter making a little tunnel or mine as they called it in the article spending the winter in the tunnel that it made.
As the next springs comes the larvae will finish it’s “Mine”. As the second year comes the larvae will make an almost an J shaped this tunnel will be deep into the wood these is where it will be planning to stay for the winter. “Before the spring pupation the larvae chews a hole to the outside”. (Hoffard and Marshall) Finally becoming “free” will just a mature or adult beetle. The ten lined June beetle can be also known as the may beetle . The female will have about 50 to 200 eggs that will be left in the soil(“June Beetle”).
Larvae will feed on the plants roots after the ave hatched (“Colorado Insects of Interest:Ten Lined june beetle”). This beetle has a host like many insects. Host vary some examples of these hosts are grasses, perennials,trees, shrubs. lt will take them about three years to have lavrae pupate and become adults in the late summer(“June Beetle”). That is a long time for them to evolve. After becoming an adult they will bury themselves in the soil again for the winter after that the adults will live less than a year(“June Beetle”). As many insects might have enemies so does the june beetle.
This beetle doesn’t et along with flies or more specifically to the waved light fly. As “the female fly lays an egg under the beetle’s elytra, where it hatches and feeds on the beetle, eventunlally killing it”(“June beetle”). In the order of coleoptera there is a family commonly called blister beetles scientifically called Meloidae. Meloidae hase 2,500 species spread across 4 subfamilies. adults of Meloidae are phytophagous eating mostly plants of the families Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Leguminosae, and Solanaceae. very few Meloidae eat the leafs the prefer the floral parts of the plant. most adults aren’t nocturnal.
