The Hercules Beetle is one of the largest insects in the world, although probably not one of the cutest.
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One in four named insects is a beetle. Beetles have biting and chewing mouth parts and two pairs of wings, although many common shrub-steppe beetles are wingless. The first pair of wings are leathery or hard and are not used in flight, but instead function as protective armor.
Beetles' complete metamorphosis features four stages of development: egg, larvae, pupa, and adult. Beetles range in size from both the largest and very nearly the smallest insects in the world and occupy more different habitats and niches than any other class of insect. The beetle family also contains the largest number of species of any insect order.
The bodies of beetles, like all insects, have three main parts: head, thorax, and abdomen.
Did you know beetles have a better fossil record than many other insect groups do? Scientists have estimated the oldest fossilized beetles are 280 million years old.
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Arthropoda |
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Insecta
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Coleoptera
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Various
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Various
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Various
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Distribution • (in blue)
Beetles are found throughout the world.
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