Facts About Beetle

There are more than 2, 50,000 species of beetles that have been identified and are found practically everywhere on the earth, except oceans! It may be strange that beetles can adapt to any sort of environment and can occupy nearly every habitat. However, they should not be confused with water beetles, since the regular beetle cannot survive in water. The beetle is a small sized invertebrate found in numerous different shapes and sizes. It has a front pair of hard, opaque, waterproof wings called elytra which meet in a straight line down the middle of the back. The beetles are found on every different habitat on Earth except in the ocean and near the poles. The beetle body is comprised of three sections all of which are coated in the hard outer shell, namely, the head, the thorax and the abdomen. They can be found in various colors like brown, black, red, yellow, green and blue. Read through the following lines to know more interesting and amazing information on beetles.

Fast Facts

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Subclass: Pterygota

Infraclass: Neoptera

Order: Endopterygota

Family: Coleoptera

Group Name: Coleopterology

Length: 1-2.5 cm

Weight: 0.4 mm – 100 g

Lifespan: 13 weeks – 12 years

Diet: Omnivore.

Habitat: Most land and freshwater habitats.

Age of Sexual Maturity: 42 months

Gestation Period: 63 days

Number of Offspring: 200 eggs

Interesting & Amazing Information On Beetles

Beetles are the largest order of insects in the world with more than 350,000 species.
40% of the recognized insects are classified as beetles.
Scientists estimate the real number of beetle species to be between 4 million and 8 million.
Goliath beetle from Africa is the heaviest insect in the world weighing up to 100 grams.
The lightest beetle is the feather-winged beetle weighing 0.4 milligrams.
The largest of the beetle family is the scarab beetle family with more than 20,000 species. It can support 850 times its own weight.
Children in Japan love to buy and collect stag beetles.
Some beetles live on mountains more than 5,000 meters high.
The metallic-colored wing covers of some beetles are used for jewelry.
Beetles can both help and hurt the environment. While some species like Japanese beetle, potato beetle and boll weevil destroy crops and property, others like the ladybird beetles help in getting rid of garbage, eat dead trees and help pollinate flowers.
Beetles cannot see very well and thus, communicate through pheromones, sounds or vibrations.
Did you know that fireflies are infact, glowing, flying beetles?
They are poor flyers as compared to other insects but adapt well to rigorous conditions.
It is believed that the biggest beetle is called the Titanus Giganteus, which grows to 17 cm long. These beetles are commonly found in New Guinea and Brazil.
Bombardier beetles shoot attackers with jets of burning chemicals to defend themselves during an attack.
Most of the beetles are terrestrial but some are underground tunnelers and some live in water.
They recognize their surroundings through the antennas that are made up of 10 different sections.
Beetles are one of the few insects that go through a complete metamorphosis. They hatch from their egg, turn into larva, pupa and then finally become adults.
The beetle feeds on plants and fungi as well as the debris from both plants and animals.
Ancient Egyptians worshiped beetles, also known as scarabs, because they turned dung into rich, alluvial soil.
A click beetle can jump 30 cm in the air.
Why are there so many beetles? This is because there is so much for them to eat, which happens to be one of the contributing factors to their rapid population expansion. Beetles are decomposers, which means, they survive on dung, dead plants or animals.
Apart from consuming dead plants or material, beetles also feed on live plants, which is why they are the most common ‘pests’ in households around the world.
Bigger species of beetles can be seen eating small birds and small species of mammals.
Beetles also eat fungus.
Depending on the species, the beetles can lay eggs ranging from a few to thousand in number.

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