Have You Seen A Beetle Lately?

By Shaun Ng

Since time immemorial, beetles have been given a lot of prominence in different civilizations over the centuries.

The ancient Egyptians, for example, treated the scarabs – a large dung beetle found in the eastern Mediterranean area – as sacred insects. The beetlewing art was also very popular in ancient times.

In some cultures, beetles were also reared as pets. They were put onto the fighting ring to see which beetle was stronger as part of the adults’ pastime, sometimes involving some form of gambling.

What on Earth are Beetles?

Belonging to the order of Coleoptera, beetles are insects that make up a quarter of the animal kingdom.

There are about 400,000 species of beetles in the world. This is about 40% of population in the insect kingdom!

Did you know that the beetle’s pair of wings can become their wing-cases? This makes the beetle very unique compared to other insects.

Curculionidae (weevils), with over 83,000 member species, are found across the world in all regions, except beside the sea or in the North and South Poles where it is too cold to survive. These are the most common type of beetles that we see in our homes and gardens.

Their diets are usually plant materials and fungi, which can cause serious agricultural damage. For example, we have seen the way how the Colorado potato beetles can damage crops by eating aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plants-sucking insects.

Beetles also eat other smaller insects or other invertebrates.

Self-Protection

To protect themselves from predators, beetles have a hard exoskeleton. There are beetles such as the rove beetles which have a very short elytra; others such as the blister beetles have softer elytra.

Beetles, especially those living in sandy areas, can also use their body colours to effectively camouflage themselves so that they cannot be visible to other predators.

Many beetles are aposematic. The patterns and bright colours on their bodies send strong signals to warn their predators of dangers.

Male beetles are known to have very big mandibles which protect them from other males.

The next time you visit a park near your home, look out for beetles. They can be easily found on plants.