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The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal species; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species.
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coleopteran, (order Coleoptera), any member of the insect order Coleoptera, consisting of the beetles and weevils. It is the largest order of insects, representing about 40 percent of the known insect species. Among the over 360,000 species of Coleoptera are many of the largest and most conspicuous insects, some of which also have brilliant metallic colours, showy patterns, or striking form. Beetles can usually be recognized by their two pairs of wings; the front pair is modified into horny covers (elytra) that hide the rear pair and most of the abdomen and usually meet down the back in a straight line. Coleoptera occur in nearly all climates. They may be divided into four groups: the first three, the Archostemata, the Adephaga, and the Myxophaga, contain relatively few families; the majority of beetles are placed in the fourth group, the Polyphaga.
Beetles attract attention for many different reasons, including their economic importance, size, abundance, appearance, and remarkable habits. Several groups of beetles (e.g., Lampyridae) are among the few terrestrial animals capable of producing light; members of several other families (e.g., Cerambycidae) can produce sound (stridulate). Most large beetles make a loud noise during flight, and many species, both large and small, are attracted to light at night. Some beetles (e.g., burying beetles of the family Silphidae and whirligig beetles of the family Gyrinidae) attract attention by their bizarre habits; others do so by their grotesque forms (e.g., Scarabaeidae). Many beetles have become adapted to an aquatic environment (e.g., Hydrophilidae); others (e.g., Thorictinae) live in association with ants and termites.
Beetles are found in nearly all climates and latitudes, except in such extreme environments as those in Antarctica and at the highest altitudes. They are found on subantarctic islands, close to the northern extremes in the Arctic, and on many mountaintops. Although many species occur in temperate environments, the number of species is greatest in the tropics; in general, individuals of a species are most abundant in temperate areas, and fewer individuals of more species are found in the tropics.
Some species are solitary; others occur in aggregations. Predators such as the ground beetles (Carabidae) are more apt to be found alone, as are many long-horned wood-boring beetles (Cerambycidae) and weevils (Curculionidae). Ladybugs (Coccinellidae), leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), pleasing fungus beetles (Erotylidae), darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae), checkered beetles (Cleridae), bess beetles (Passalidae), sap beetles (Nitidulidae), and some species of scarab beetles (Scarabaeoidea) are often found in aggregations of one or several different species.
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Coleoptera vary greatly in size, from a fraction of a millimetre to more than 200 mm (almost 8 inches) in length (e.g., rhinoceros beetle, Xyloryctes satyrus) and up to 75 mm (2.95 inches) in width (e.g., goliath beetle, Goliathus goliathus).
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Diversity of structure among adult beetles is as great as range of size. The ground beetles (Carabidae) have a rather generalized (primitive) form—the flattened, oval body has a relatively even surface, with regular ridges or grooves; antennae and legs are of moderate length and slender. The underside of most water beetles (Hydrophilidae) is oval, smooth, and flattened, the antennae either short or very slender, and the forelegs short and the hindlegs long and fringed with hairs that are used as paddles. Rove beetles (Staphylinidae) have very short elytra and a slender abdomen. Soldier beetles (Cantharidae), fireflies (Lampyridae), and net-winged beetles (Lycidae) have soft elytra.
Click beetles (Elateridae) have a hingelike joint in the body region called the thorax that enables them to snap their bodies and jump high in the air; their relatives, the Buprestidae (metallic wood borers), cannot jump but take flight very quickly. Cleridae (checkered beetles) are usually oblong or cylindrical, fairly active, and often brightly coloured. Nitidulidae (sap beetles) are short and flattened and have slightly shortened elytra. Coccinellidae (ladybugs, ladybird beetles) are rounded, with a smooth, raised upper surface and a flat underside. The Endomychidae (handsome fungus beetles) often have enlarged, rounded elytra. The Erotylidae (pleasing fungus beetles) are usually slender, smooth, and shiny, as are the Languriidae.
Among the stout or cylindrical lamellicorns (Scarabaeoidea) are a number of bizarre forms. The male rhinoceros beetles (Dynastinae) have one or more horns on the head and sometimes on part of the thorax. Many of the true scarabs (Scarabaeinae) and other dung-feeding groups of the lamellicorns also have horns, including some of the goliath beetles (Cetoniinae). Male stag beetles (Lucanidae) have greatly enlarged mandibles (jaws); some are as long as the rest of the body.
Beetles, the order Coleoptera, are the largest group of insects. There are 350,000 different species of beetles which have been named: about 40% of all known insects. [1] . There are an estimated 800,000 to a million living species. [2] . Beetles live almost everywhere, though not in the ocean or in places that are very cold, such as Antarctica.
This article classifies the subgroups of the order Coleoptera down to the level of families, following the system in "Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta)", Bouchard, et al. (2011), with corrections and additions from 2020, with common names from bugguide.net.
The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal species; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species.
It has been estimated that half of all animal species alive today are beetles; using a conservative estimate of the number of animal species, there would be at least three million beetle species on the Earth.
