A report on Beetle

Coleoptera at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany

Fossil and life restoration of Moravocoleus permianus (Tshekardocoleidae) from the Early Permian of the Czech Republic, representative of the morphology of early beetles

Beetle genera were mainly saprophages (detritivores) in the Permian and Triassic. During the Jurassic, herbivorous and then carnivorous genera became more common. In the Cenozoic, genera at all three trophic levels became far more numerous.

Fossil buprestid beetle from the Eocene (50 mya) Messel pit, which retains its structural color

Beetle body structure, using cockchafer.
A: head, B: thorax, C: abdomen.
1: antenna, 2: compound eye, 3: femur, 4: elytron (wing cover), 5: tibia, 6: tarsus, 7: claws, 8: mouthparts, 9: prothorax, 10: mesothorax, 11: metathorax, 12: abdominal sternites, 13: pygidium.

Polyphylla fullo has distinctive fan-like antennae, one of several distinct forms for the appendages among beetles.

Acilius sulcatus, a diving beetle with hind legs adapted as swimming limbs

Checkered beetle Trichodes alvearius taking off, showing the hard elytra (forewings adapted as wing-cases) held stiffly away from the flight wings

Punctate flower chafers (Neorrhina punctata, Scarabaeidae) mating

The life cycle of the stag beetle includes three instars.

The ivory-marked beetle, Eburia quadrigeminata, may live up to 40 years inside the hardwoods on which the larva feeds.

Hycleus sp. (Meloidae) feeding on the petals of Ipomoea carnea

A camouflaged longhorn beetle, Ecyrus dasycerus

Clytus arietis (Cerambycidae), a Batesian mimic of wasps

Blister beetles such as Hycleus have brilliant aposematic coloration, warning of their toxicity.

An Israeli Copper Flower-Chafer (Protaetia cuprea ignicollis) on a crown daisy (Glebionis coronaria)

1: Adult ambrosia beetle burrows into wood and lays eggs, carrying fungal spores in its mycangia.
2: Larva feeds on fungus, which digests wood, removing toxins, to mutual benefit.
3: Larva pupates.

The fogstand beetle of the Namib Desert, Stenocara gracilipes, is able to survive by collecting water from fog on its back.

Larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, a serious crop pest

Coccinella septempunctata, a predatory beetle beneficial to agriculture

Mealworms in a bowl for human consumption

Zopheridae in jewellery at the Texas A&M University Insect Collection

"Remarkable Beetles Found at Simunjon, Borneo". A few of the 2,000 species of beetle collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in Borneo

Titan beetle, Titanus giganteus, a tropical longhorn, is one of the largest and heaviest insects in the world.

Scydosella musawasensis, the smallest known beetle: scale bar (right) is 50 μm.

Hercules beetle, Dynastes hercules ecuatorianus, the longest of all beetles

iridescent Protaetia cuprea feeding on thistle

Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Endopterygota.

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Insect

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Insects (from Latin insectum) are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta.

A pie chart of described eukaryote species, showing just over half of these to be insects

Insects with population trends documented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, for orders Collembola, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Odonata, and Orthoptera. Of 203 insect species that had such documented population trends in 2013, 33% were in decline.

Stylized diagram of insect digestive tract showing malpighian tubule, from an insect of the order Orthoptera

Bumblebee defecating. Note the contraction of the abdomen to provide internal pressure

The tube-like heart (green) of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae extends horizontally across the body, interlinked with the diamond-shaped wing muscles (also green) and surrounded by pericardial cells (red). Blue depicts cell nuclei.

The different forms of the male (top) and female (bottom) tussock moth Orgyia recens is an example of sexual dimorphism in insects.

Gulf fritillary life cycle, an example of holometabolism.

Most insects have compound eyes and two antennae.

A cathedral mound created by termites (Isoptera).

White-lined sphinx moth feeding in flight

The backswimmer Notonecta glauca underwater, showing its paddle-like hindleg adaptation

Perhaps one of the most well-known examples of mimicry, the viceroy butterfly (top) appears very similar to the monarch butterfly (bottom).

European honey bee carrying pollen in a pollen basket back to the hive

Aedes aegypti, a parasite, is the vector of dengue fever and yellow fever

Because they help flowering plants to cross-pollinate, some insects are critical to agriculture. This European honey bee is gathering nectar while pollen collects on its body.

A robberfly with its prey, a hoverfly. Insectivorous relationships such as these help control insect populations.

The common fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most widely used organisms in biological research.

Insect morphology
A- Head B- Thorax C- Abdomen

Basic motion of the insect wing in insect with an indirect flight mechanism scheme of dorsoventral cut through a thorax segment with a wings, b joints, c dorsoventral muscles, d longitudinal muscles.

Lampyrid beetles communicate with light.

The elytra of this cockchafer beetle are readily distinguished from the transparent hindwings.

An elytron is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alternatively spelled as "hemielytra"), and in most species only the basal half is thickened while the apex is membranous, but when they are entirely thickened the condition is referred to as "coleopteroid".

Blister beetle

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Ivy bee (Colletes hederae), carrying parasitic triungulins of Stenoria analis

Black blister beetle, Epicauta pennsylvanica (Meloinae: Epicautini)

Cysteodemus armatus near Ridgecrest, California in the Mojave Desert: The white coating is cuticular wax, which can vary from white to yellow in this species.

Blister beetles like this Lytta vesicatoria (Meloinae: Lyttini) can be safely handled, provided the animal is not startled, and allowed to move around freely. Otherwise, painful poisonings may occur.

Meloe violaceus (Meloinae: Meloini): Note the drop of dark orange defensive fluid on its thorax.

Mylabris quadripunctata (Meloinae: Mylabrini)

A yellow-and-black species of Actenodia, one of many known in South Africa as "CMR beetle"

Sitaris muralis (Nemognathinae: Sitarini)

Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin.

Elateroidea

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The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of beetles.

Strepsiptera

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Order of insects with nine extant families that include about 600 described species.

A wasp (Odynerus spinipes) with a small portion of a strepsipteran's body protruding from its abdomen

Stem-group strepsipteran Heterobathmilla kakopoios in Burmese amber

Andrena vaga male bee, with Stylops melittae mating on its abdomen

They are believed to be most closely related to beetles, from which they diverged 300–350 million years ago, but do not appear in the fossil record until the mid-Cretaceous around 100 million years ago.