Beetles and Weevils: Coleoptera - Physical Characteristics, Habitat, Diet, Behavior And Reproduction, Beetles And People, Conservation Status - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
Beetles are found on every continent except Antarctica. They are also found on most islands. Most species prefer certain kinds of soils, climates, and foods and live only in a particular geographical region. A few beetle species have been distributed well beyond their natural distribution through human activity, either accidentally or on purpose. About twenty-five thousand species are known in the United States and Canada.
Additional Topics
Beetles are the largest order in the animal kingdom, with approximately 350,000 species known worldwide. Beetles come in a wide variety of body shapes and sizes. They range in length from 0.02 to 6.7 inches (0.55 to 170 millimeters) and are long or round, cylinder-shaped or flat, slender or heavy-bodied. Their bodies are usually very hard and rigid, but some groups, such as fireflies, soldier beet…
Beetles live in nearly every terrestrial and freshwater habitat on the Earth, but they are not found in the ocean, on polar ice caps, or on some of the tallest mountain peaks. They live everywhere, from coastal sand dunes to wind-swept rocky fields at 10,000 feet (3,050 meters) above sea level. Most species are found in humid tropical forests. Others inhabit cold mountain streams, parched deserts,…
Equipped with chewing mouthparts, beetles are capable of eating almost any organism, living or dead, including funguses, plants, and animals, especially other insects. They also eat animal waste. Numerous fungus feeders attack mushrooms and their relatives, while others eat molds and yeasts mixed with plant sap. Plant-feeding beetles eat leaves, flowers, pollen, nectar, fruits, and seeds. Many spe…
Some plant-feeding beetles will nibble only the edges of leaves, while others will eat everything. Japanese beetles skeletonize leaves by eating all the soft tissue and leaving behind a network of leaf veins. Species feeding on plants with poisonous or sticky sap must first bleed the leaf of these harmful fluids. Before feeding they will bite the veins supplying the sap to the leaf to cut off the …
Beetles have long captured the imagination of people. Ancient Egyptians used the sacred scarab on walls and carvings to symbolize the Egyptian sun god Ra. Symbols of sacred scarabs were especially popular on objects associated with funerals and human burials. For thousands of years, beetles have appeared on vase paintings, porcelain statuary, precious stones, glass paintings, sculptures, jewelry, …
Seventy-two species of beetles are listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Of these, seventeen are listed as Extinct, ten as Critically Endangered, fifteen as Endangered, twenty-seven as Vulnerable, and three as Near Threatened. Extinct means no longer living. Critically Endangered means a species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Endangered means the species is fa…
Physical characteristics: This species is black with red elytra. Only the male has a long "neck" and measures up to 0.98 inches (25 millimeters) in length. Geographic range: Giraffe-necked weevils live in Madagascar. Habitat: They live in forests. Diet: The adults feed on the leaves of a small tree, called the giraffe beetle tree. Behavior and reproduction: Adults rest on leaves in o…
Physical characteristics: Adults measure up to 1.4 inches (35 millimeters) in length. The midsection and elytra have pale borders. The elytra of the male are smooth, while those of the female are grooved. Geographic range: This species is found in Europe. Biome: Lake and pond Habitat: Great water beetles live in standing bodies of water with muddy bottoms. Diet: They eat other aquatic insects, cla…
Physical characteristics: The body of a European stag beetle is dark brown or black. Males have a broad head with antler-like jaws and reach a total length of 1.4 to 2.95 inches (35 to 75 millimeters). Females have smaller heads and jaws and measure 1.2 to 1.8 inches (30 to 45 millimeters). Geographic range: This species is found in central, southern, and western Europe; Asia Minor; and Syria. Hab…
Physical characteristics: Adult males have a horn on their heads and midsections and measure 5.9 to 6.7 inches (150 to 170 millimeters) in length. The long horn on the midsection takes up to one-half of the total length. Females lack horns. Geographic range: Hercules beetles are found in Mexico, Central America, northern South America, Guadeloupe, and the Dominican Republic.
Adult Hercules bee…
Physical characteristics: The body of a sacred scarab is broad and black with a rakelike head and forelegs. They measure 0.98 to 1.2 inches (25 to 30 millimeters) in length. Geographic range: This species is found in the Mediterranean region and central Europe. Habitat: They live in steppe, forest-steppe, and semi-desert habitats. Diet: Adults use their membrane-like jaws to strain fluids, molds, …
Physical characteristics: Adult American burying beetles are shiny black with four wide orange spots on the elytra. The head and midsection each have a central orange spot. The tips of the antennae are also orange. They measure 0.8 to 1.4 inches (20 to 35 millimeters) in length. Geographic range: This species was once found throughout eastern North America. It is now found only in isolated populat…
Physical characteristics: Adult beetles are long, slender, black, and measure 0.9 to 1.3 inches (22 to 33 millimeters) in length. The body is black with short elytra exposing most of the abdominal segments. Geographic range: This species lives in lower elevations of Europe, Russia, Turkey, North Africa, and the Canary Islands and is established in parts of North America. Habitat: The devil'…
Citing this material
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments Add a comment…