Fascinating Facts About Beetles

That might seem obvious, but not all insects do so. Butterflies, for example, sip liquid nectar from their own built-in straw, called a proboscis. One common trait all adult beetles and most beetle larvae share is mandibulate mouthparts, made just for chewing. Most beetles feed on plants, but some (like ladybugs) hunt and eat smaller insect prey. Carrion feeders use those strong jaws to gnaw on skin or hides. A few even feed on fungus. Whatever they're dining on, beetles chew their food thoroughly before swallowing. In fact, the common name beetle is thought to derive from the Old English word bitela, meaning little biter.

As you would expect from a group of insects so numerous, beetles range in size from nearly microscopic to downright gigantic. The shortest beetles are the featherwing beetles (family Ptiliidae), most of which measure less than 1 millimeter long. Of these, the smallest of all is a species called the fringed ant beetle, Nanosella fungi, which reaches only 0.25 mm in length and weighs just 0.4 milligrams. On the other end of the size spectrum, the Goliath beetle (Goliathus goliathus) tips the scales at 100 grams. The longest known beetle hails from South America. The appropriately named Titanus giganteus can reach 20 centimeters long.

Beetles are the strongmen of the animal kingdom.

The Palmetto Beetle, a type of Tortoise Beetle, can withstand a pulling force that is equivalent to 148 times its body mass — comparable to a human withstanding a pull of 23,000 pounds.
Depending on where you are, that smell might just be a beetle.
Many beetles release strong smelling chemicals as a defence mechanism, none as strong as the Nicrophorus beetle. The scent that these orange and black beetles produce is so strong, that even the most iron-stomached entomologists rarely make the mistake of handling live Nicrophorus beetles twice.=

Beetles are a tough species to impress when it comes to mating.

Male beetles have developed elaborate physical adaptations including conspicuous antlers, giant mandibles, or bright bioluminescent lights that can be used to impress a mate. Some species use perfumes (pheromones) or serenade their potential mates with drumming or stridulation, a type of strumming. Others provide gifts in the form of nutrients, while still others undertake elaborate pre-mating rituals that include the male doing headstands and flips or hugging the female and caressing her antennae.

Weevils Are Beetles, Too
Weevils, easily recognized by their elongated, almost comical beaks, are really just a type of beetle. The superfamily Curculionoidea includes the snout beetles and various types of weevils. When you look at a weevil's long snout, you might assume they feed by piercing and sucking their meal, much like the true bugs. But don't be fooled, weevils belong to the order Coleoptera. Just as all other beetles do, weevils have mandibulate mouthparts made for chewing. In the case of the weevil, however, the mouthparts are usually tiny and are found just at the tip of that long beak. Many weevils cause significant damage to their plant hosts, and for this reason, we consider them pests.

Beetles Have Been Around for About 270 Million Years
The first beetle-like organisms in the fossil record date back to the Permian Period, roughly 270 million years ago. True beetles — those that resemble our modern-day beetles — first appeared about 230 million years ago. Beetles were already in existence before the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea, and they survived the K/T extinction event thought to have doomed the dinosaurs. How have beetles survived for so long, and withstood such extreme events? As a group, beetles have proved remarkably adept at adapting to ecological changes.

One out of Every Four Animals on Earth Is a Beetle
Beetles are the largest group of living organisms known to science, bar none. Even with plants included in the count, one in every five known organisms is a beetle. Scientists have described over 350,000 species of beetles, with many more still undiscovered, undoubtedly. By some estimates, there may be as many as 3 million beetle species living on the planet. The order Coleoptera is the largest order in the entire animal kingdom.