10 Facts about Beetles

Beetles live in almost every ecological niche on the planet. This group includes some of our sweetest bugs, as well as our most replaceable pests. Here are 10 interesting facts about beetles, which is our largest insect order.

Beetles are the biggest group of living organisms known to science, none at all.

Scientists have described more than 350,000 species of beetles, there are undoubtedly much more undiscovered.

According to entomologist Stephen Marshall, you can find beetles almost anywhere on the planet, from pole to pole. They live in both terrestrial and freshwater aquatic habitats, from forests to grasslands, tundras, and from beaches to mountains.

One of the traits that make beetles so easy to identify is their rigid forelimbs, which act as armor to protect their more delicate flight feathers and soft abdomen.

The famed philosopher Aristotle coined the order name Coleoptera, which comes from the Greek Colen, meaning sheathed, and petra, meaning wing.

As you’d expect from a group of insects so numerous, beetles range in size from nearly microscopic to downright giant.

The smallest beetles are the wing beetles (family Ptiliidae), most of which measure less than 1 millimeter.

The smallest of these is a species called the fringed ant beetle, Nanosella fungus, which reaches only 0.25 mm in length and weighs only 0.4 mg.

Only a small fraction of the overall insect population can be considered a pest; most insects never cause us any trouble.

Most beetles eat plants, but some (like ladybugs) hunt and consume smaller insect prey.

A new species of beetle ( Triamyxa coprolithica  ) has been discovered, It was found in a fossilized poop which is believed to be 230 million years old.

Beetles are important to humans because they are one of the important decomposers.

Weevils (Curculionidae) is the largest family of beetles and also the largest family of insects.

Beetles help in pollination in flowers.

Beetles are generally solitary and do not live in groups.